I had a surprise call from Anglian Water last week, their pro-active team letting me know that a recent meter reading they took suggests that we've used significantly more water than in the previous 12 months. About 100m³ more water to be precise.
We're a family of 4 (kids are pretty much adults) in a detached house with a rear lawn. I did water the grass a bit more last year, and I've been showering at home rather than at work. And we did hire a hot tub but it only needed filling once. Oh, and we had a dripping pipe in the airing cupboard.
I've just turned everything off in the house and the meter outside didn't detect any water flow so it would seem that we don't have a leak anywhere after the meter.
I can't imagine how we've used that much extra water, but it seems I'm gonna have to suck it up (not literally) and pay. It's about £300 extra. Ouch!
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Particularly the newer long/short flush button ones that tend to stick once in a while.
Our toilet was in a constant state of mild-flushing after the cistern fill cut-off valve broke. The cistern just kept filling up and emptying down the overflow. We didn't realise for a long time until we queried the DD increases, you could barely see the water flowing and definitely could not hear it. It must have broken sometime after 21st March 2016
Rift Amplification
Brackley, Northamptonshire
www.riftamps.co.uk
But we've had 2 of them replaced over 12 months ago, and we're pretty tuned into that. I suspect the constant drip in the airing cupboard could be our main culprit, along with me taking showers too.
Have you had relatives over?
Not a smart meter. It's not the end of the world, but I am going to be checking it more frequently and tracking how much is getting used/wasted.
I very much doubt it's showers, teenage daughter ? Baths every night ?
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I'm currently having fun with one of these numpty companies who, every year, send me a commercial waste invoice for my flat, then, when I call to complain, tell me that yes, it's their error and they will correct it and it won't happen again.
It happened in 2015, 2016 and 2017. I will be billing them for my time in sorting their crap out. A less legally-aware person might feel coerced into paying their bogus invoices after receiving one of their we're-going-to-get-the-bailiffs-onto-you letters.
I've got 2 teenage boys, and they do like a long shower. Me too, I'll occasionally shave in the shower which is a stupid waste of water.
I'm going to measure the next 7 days of usage, then I'm going to ask my family to try and reduce it by taking short showers and we'll see what difference it makes.
That is a significant increase in your normal usage of an extra 274 litres/day over the course of a year.
I would challenge this purely from a common sense perspective and ask that the meter be verified. It’s not unknown for them to over/under read.