The price of water in the UK

Just a quickie really ..... we pay more for our water each month than we do for gas and electricity combined! That surely can not be right? We pay standing charges for water in and standing charges for water out plus surface water/highway drainage which amount to £10 per month before we add on water charges in and 100% of that same water charged going out.

Having done all the calculations, and hearing from the water company themselves based on meter readings, we are average water users for the number of people living here, or rather slightly under average. Uswitch also have a calculator and according to them we are average too. Having been brought up in a hot country I have always been just that bit careful with water and never leave it running whilst brushing teeth and that sort of thing and that is how the kids were brought up. So I don't see how we are average as I rarely get a bath these days - maybe once a month if that. And being fairly sedentary I don't shower every day whilst teenage son is adverse to the effort.

When I told the water company that we worked at home the person said well that would be it then: you would be using more. I said we only make cups of tea and in any case we are using more electricity and yet the combined gas and electricity is less than water. The toilet is supposed to be dual flush but is rubbish as there is water coming out but it sometimes won't even flush regular toilet paper. A half bucket of water is more effective. So maybe there is a problem there that can be fixed.

At the moment we are mid way in our first two hour experiment of checking what leaks or anything may be happening by reading the meter and not using any water for two hours and re-checking figures.

Our last house was not on a meter and had 5 bedrooms, two bathrooms and back yard yet the annual bill was less than our very careful water usage in our two bedroomed apartment with no outside area. It baffles me as well as being so expensive.