Spending a Penny? How much does your water actually cost?
Depending on the age of your house and where you live you will be paying for your household water in one of two ways. You will either have a water meter installed or will be charged for your water using the old water billing system.
It may be advisable for you to switch to a water meter to save you some money but before you do here are some interesting facts:
- Only 40% of homes have a water meter
- When paying for water via a water meter you are only charged for what you use
- Houses on a water meter tend to use 10% less water on average
- Water meters can save energy, money and water and can also cut down on a households carbon footprint
- The traditional billing scheme is based on how much your house would rent for. This archaic system means, in its most basic form, that the more your house could fetch in rent the more your water bills will be.
- The Government is looking to address the way we pay for our water and is aiming to install water meters in 80% of homes before 2020 so that people only pay for what they use.
- According to a recent report in The Independent while 57 per cent of people think metering is the fairest way to charge, only 40 per cent want to make it mandatory
- Unfortunately if you live in the South West you could be paying a lot more for your water than anywhere else in the UK. Annual unmetered bills for that part of the country are £723 compared with £367 nationally.