One family are doing all they can to reduce their water usage, but their bill is still almost double
Consumers who are considering a water meter to save money should think carefully about their consumption before making a decision. Tony Scudder and his family believe their water bill will nearly double from �262 a year to an estimated �508 following the installation of a water meter.
The family ? Tony and his partner Karen plus their two children Lois and Eddie ? lives in Rochester, Kent, part of the Medway area where Southern Water started installing water meters on a universal basis in 2010.
Tony's estimate of �508 is based on a "three-month letter" sent out by Southern Water to indicate what households will pay if they don't reduce their water consumption.
He says: "I'd be outraged, if I hadn't expected it. If [a water company] is going to install a meter, it might as well make sure it's going to make more money. Sadly, as water meters are now compulsory, should the water company wish to install them you are thrown to the wolves."
Southern Water, a company that supplies water and deals with sewage, is installing compulsory meters under amendments recently made to the Water Industry Act, which allows water companies to universally meter households if the area in which they operate is an area of "serious water stress" because of population growth and lack of water.
The company has already introduced meters to the areas under the greatest stress ? the Medway, Southampton, Horsham, Littlehampton and Crawley ? and will extend the programme throughout the majority of homes in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire by 2015. South East Water, which supplies water-only in the same counties, started a similar programme in 2011.
A spokesman for Southern Water said that while half of its customers will pay more through metering, the rest will benefit from lower bills: "In a survey, the vast majority of our customers agreed that paying for the amount of water they use, as measured by meter, is the fairest way to charge and puts them in control of their bills."
He added that when meters are installed, customers are provided with information and practical advice on easy ways to save water, energy and money. The company has also developed two tariffs for metered customers: one for those on benefits and low incomes, and a changeover tariff to allow people to gradually increase the bill to the full metered amount.
Tony has now switched to the changeover tariff, which will charge two-thirds of the old rateable bill and a third of the metered amount in the first year; a third of the rateable bill and two-thirds of the metered amount in the second year; and the full metered amount from the third year onwards. This will reduce his estimated bills to �344 and �426 over the next two years.
He says: "I agree with the idea of conserving water. Our children are sharing their bath and only having one every other day, and at the ages of two and four they already know they can't leave taps running. We only use the washing machine once every two days, and I shower at the gym every day. We certainly won't be using the hosepipe in the garden anymore. We are doing everything we can to keep our water usage down, but the bill is still nearly doubling. I just think they have set the charges too high."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/jan/31/water-meter-case-study
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