How a water meter could save you hundreds

Jasmine Birtles

eleventh Apr 2024

Studying Time: 6 minutes

Wish to save a number of hundred kilos a 12 months and assist preserve a scare useful resource? Wish to give much less of your cash to an enormous firm and preserve extra your self? Easy! Simply take into consideration water. And particularly, take into consideration getting a water meter.

Rising Water Charges

Throughout the price of residing disaster, water payments are rising alongside different family payments. When you can’t select the provider of your water, there could also be a number of issues you are able to do to scale back your water invoice and get monetary savings.

For those who’re on a low revenue (often beneath £19,000 family whole revenue, however verify together with your provider), you would qualify for one thing known as a social tariff. These are usually not broadly marketed however each water provider should provide one and it’s a decreased charge for low revenue households. Different schemes are known as cap schemes, which restrict the entire quantity you might be charged in your water.

How a Water Meter May Assist

A water meter may help smaller or low utilization households save a major sum of money on their water invoice. Certainly one of our MoneyMagpie workforce managed to take their quarterly invoice down from over £200 to only £45 – that’s a whopping annual saving of round £600, and that’s not an uncommon case examine!

Water meters measure the precise quantity of water your family makes use of as an alternative of estimating it based mostly on elements like the dimensions of your house. You would possibly, for instance, nonetheless reside in your four-bed household house however now alone or as a pair as the kids have grown up. Your water utilization can be considerably decreased, however the water payments keep the identical on an unmetered charge.

Anybody can request a water meter, however a normal rule of thumb to know whether it is a good suggestion in your family is the occupant ratio. When you have fewer individuals than bedrooms in your house, a meter is kind of prone to prevent cash.

Your provider will prepare for somebody to go to your property to verify a meter might be fitted, which is the case besides in extremely distinctive circumstances. In the event that they refuse, as a result of it’s too troublesome or costly to suit a meter at your property, they MUST give you an assessed cost charge as an alternative.

Renters can have meters put in, too. It’s well mannered to ask your landlord first however they don’t seem to be allowed to refuse.

A family can change again to an unmetered charge throughout the first 12 months, however then the property stays on a meter after that interval.

Additional Assist for Disabled or Giant Households

If somebody in your family makes use of a variety of further water attributable to a incapacity, chances are you’ll qualify for further monetary assist in direction of your water invoice. Equally, if there are three or extra kids residing full-time on the property, you possibly can apply for a cap to your invoice which suggests you received’t pay over the common value of a invoice in your property measurement even in the event you use extra water.

WaterSure is the scheme it’s good to look out for in your provider’s web site to seek out out extra.

Save on Water Payments with Water Saving Suggestions

There are many methods you possibly can scale back your family water utilization, which isn’t solely nice for the setting but in addition your pockets! Comply with these tricks to save water and get monetary savings.

1. Solely run a cycle in the event you’ve acquired a full load

On common, one washer cycle makes use of 19 gallons of water. The common family runs between 5 and 6 masses per week, which provides as much as 5,605 gallons of water per 12 months.

So, in the event you wash your garments solely when vital it can save you water and scale back your electrical energy payments. For those who had been to drop down to only 4 masses every week, you’d use over 1500 much less gallons of water a 12 months.

Half masses are very inefficient so in the event you’re a small family, wait till you’ve sufficient for a full load. After all, in the event you’ve acquired kids you’ll in all probability don’t have any drawback filling up the washer!

You would possibly need to contemplate washing your garments at 30 levels as an alternative of 60 levels too. Greater temperatures use extra power, so it’ll value you within the long-run. Pre-soaking in a single day may help to loosen a variety of filth and stains and make the wash cycle extra environment friendly too.

2. Use the dishwasher

This would possibly sound unusual, however it actually does work! Most fashionable dishwashers solely use 12 litres of water, whereas hand washing makes use of between 60 and 70 litres.

Nonetheless, this solely works in the event you scrape your plates quite than rinse them. Like with a washer, you should solely run the cycle when it’s full. For those who’re a smaller family, it’ll could also be value investing in a smaller dishwasher.

Bear in mind! Once you’re shopping for new home equipment, contemplate those who provide cycle and load-size changes, as they’re extra water and power environment friendly.

If you wish to lower down in your payments additional, take a look at our article on low cost, inexperienced cleansing merchandise which you can make your self, right here.

3. Take showers as an alternative of baths

In keeping with Waterwise, a brief bathe with an environment friendly bathe head makes use of much less water than a shower. However that is solely the case in the event you take lower than 10 minutes in there and don’t have an influence bathe. We advocate saving your singing voice for after your bathe!

Strive adapting your each day routine to slot in a bathe quite than a shower. For those who actually can’t do with out your tub, why not pour it an inch decrease each time because it’ll prevent round 5 litres. You might even use your tub water to water family crops, however be certain that to maintain your baths to as soon as every week.

4. Flip the faucet off

A staggering 80% of British adults are wasting water regularly.

Brits waste water whereas brushing their enamel and whereas they’re filling up the kettle. Leaving the faucet on for a minute wastes 6 litres of water, so in the event you’re leaving it on when you brush you’re losing 24 litres a day!

Fortunately, these dangerous habits might be remedied, so it can save you on water and money.

When you have any persistently dripping faucets, ensure you get them fastened. This generally is a large waste of water over time, costing you cash in case you have a water meter.

5. Re-use water for crops and greens

Wash your vegatables and fruits in a bowl of water as an alternative of operating water from the faucet. You received’t discover the distinction in any respect whenever you’re cooking. Nonetheless, you’ll be capable to re-use to water for home crops.

Once you boil an egg, save the cooled water in your houseplants. The vitamins launched from the shell can be good for them. Not solely will you save water, however you’ll make your crops more healthy too.

Equally, in case you have a fish tank, the soiled water is wealthy is phosphorus and nitrogen, that are nice in your crops!

6. Maintain water within the fridge 

For those who’re a stickler for chilly ingesting water, this one’s for you! Fairly than operating the faucet for a minute or so, retailer bottled water within the fridge. Refill your water bottles within the morning and retailer them within the fridge for a wonderfully chilled beverage.  This fashion you received’t must run the faucet for ages if you wish to have a chilly drink and also you’ll be serving to the setting too.

7. Hippo water saver

The Hippo water saver is a pack that goes inside your bathroom cistern that will help you save water.

Each time you flush, the Hippo can save as much as three litres of water. This can prevent roughly £20 a 12 months. They cost £2 so that they’re an ideal funding!

8. Eco bathe head

In keeping with the Energy Saving Trust, by merely switching to an eco bathe head you would scale back your water utilization by a median of 74% and lower your scorching water payments by as a lot as 40%.

You will get a PulseEco shower head for round £33 and it’s straightforward to suit onto your bathe hose too. All you need to do is unscrew the bathe head you do have and substitute it with this new one

9. Get a water butt

For those who love your backyard, get a water butt to make use of rainwater in your crops. For those who don’t have a number of house for one, a rain chain and bucket is an effective different. You might qualify for a decreased value water butt by Save Water, Save Money.

• 10. Get free water saving units

Save Money, Save Water has a nifty questionnaire that will help you present how a lot water you’re utilizing – and the way a lot you would save. Even higher, you possibly can select from a spread of free water saving units, from bathe timers to faucet aerators and even strips to place in your bathroom to ensure you don’t have a sneaky flush leak.