If you choose to have a water meter fitted your charges would be based on the amount of water you use, rather than being a fixed amount each year based on the rateable value of your property.

Any financial benefits depend on how much you pay now, the number of people living in the property and how much water you use. Generally speaking, large families may be worse off with a meter and single occupiers are most likely to benefit.

You can contact your water company for advice and some company websites have an on-line calculators. You can also find a spreadsheet calculator on the Consumer Council for Water website.

If you choose to have a meter fitted and then decide that you would prefer to pay according to the rateable value of your property, you can choose to revert to your original method of charging, as long as you do so within 12 months of the meter being installed. This is to give you the opportunity to see how your metered bill compares to the unmeasured bill before you need to make this decision.

Water companies' tariffs for customers with and without meters vary considerably. Your water company will give you the relevant charges on request and should help you work out how a meter would affect your charges. Some customers receive two bills from different companies, one for water supply and the other for sewerage charges, and you will need to obtain the relevant tariff from each company for each service.

The charges you can expect to see itemised on a metered bill are typically as follows:

• water supply – charged per cubic metre (m³) of usage. A cubic meter equals 220 gallons.
• sewerage services – companies apply these charges based on the volume of water recorded on the water meter. To allow for the fact that not all water goes to the public sewer, some companies charge a percentage of your water usage, such as 95%. Others charge for 100% of the volume, but the amount of water returned to the sewer has been taken into account when setting the level of the charge.
• standing charges for water and sewerage – a fixed amount each year covering customer related costs, for instance the extra cost to the company of maintaining and reading the meter. Some companies also apply surface water drainage and/or highway drainage charges.

Having established the metered tariffs that apply to you, you will need to estimate how much water you use each year. Company information leaflets often contain a ready reckoner. Some water companies have on-line calculators on their websites. Please contact your water company for details.

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