Water Bills

[narmour]

I'm glad we don't have to pay for water... judging by this we get a good deal. My council rates are £450 a year and that covers water, street repairs, bin collections, communal grass cutting etc etc. Come to Northern Ireland!! there's so much of it falling from the sky here that the councils would have a cheek trying to charge for it :nono:

 

[SloeBrewer]

I'm surprised, to say the least, that so many people think water should be free. I've been to many countries where there is no running water, while our friends, who live in Spain, do have running water, but it's not safe to drink.

We take it for granted that whenever we turn on the tap, fresh, clean, unlimited water comes out - and yet millions of people still buy bottled water, because they think it's somehow better than tap water.

Your water bill pays for the infrastructure to collect that water and deliver it to your tap. It pays to have that water cleaned and treated, so that it's safe to drink. It pays for the infrastructure to take your waste away from your house and treat that, too (which is why your bills are lower if you have a septic tank).

While I agree that the water companies are often doing a bad job controlling leaks and haven't invested enough in new reservoirs, we should all be grateful that our water is actually very cheap. If you want free water, then set up some water butts. I use my collected rainwater for watering the garden, washing the car, etc, but I certainly wouldn't drink it or brew with it!

 

[wezil]

Hi water meters can be cheaper, as you get a lot of water per unit. Can't remember the unit amount per pound so to speak (had to check for my daughter a while ago). But it was a fair bit (they don't charge per gallon). So I think if your filling a LARGE pool, or pond regularly possibly not good. But other than that you might save money. And as was pointed out we should all be saving water and other precious resources for the greater good.

 

[narmour]

I'm surprised, to say the least, that so many people think water should be free. I've been to many countries where there is no running water, while our friends, who live in Spain, do have running water, but it's not safe to drink.

We take it for granted that whenever we turn on the tap, fresh, clean, unlimited water comes out - and yet millions of people still buy bottled water, because they think it's somehow better than tap water.

Your water bill pays for the infrastructure to collect that water and deliver it to your tap. It pays to have that water cleaned and treated, so that it's safe to drink. It pays for the infrastructure to take your waste away from your house and treat that, too (which is why your bills are lower if you have a septic tank).

While I agree that the water companies are often doing a bad job controlling leaks and haven't invested enough in new reservoirs, we should all be grateful that our water is actually very cheap. If you want free water, then set up some water butts. I use my collected rainwater for watering the garden, washing the car, etc, but I certainly wouldn't drink it or brew with it!

All these things need to be payed for in Northern Ireland as well and yet we can do it under our council rates scheme! granted this may change in the future, but we are delivered clean, safe, nice tasting free water and it is all covered for less than council tax on the mainland (which we don't pay here either).

 

[Aleman]

I'm surprised, to say the least, that so many people think water should be free.

<snip>

Your water bill pays for the infrastructure to collect that water and deliver it to your tap. It pays to have that water cleaned and treated, so that it's safe to drink. It pays for the infrastructure to take your waste away from your house and treat that, too (which is why your bills are lower if you have a septic tank).

While I agree that the water companies are often doing a bad job controlling leaks and haven't invested enough in new reservoirs, we should all be grateful that our water is actually very cheap.

Bad at controlling leaks . . . the companies that took over from the water boards, were very well aware that they were buying an infrastructure that had had largely zero invested in it for 30 years. They then did the same for another 15 years filling shareholder pockets rather than the global strip and replace that it required!! . . Now they are wasting 3/4 of the water that enters the pipes from the reservoirs and Charging US for it :twisted: . . . and talking about charging us a premium to do what should have been in the contract from day 1 . . . Fix the pipes.

I don't think that things should be free, I just think that when companies take over public services they should be limited in what they take out for profits in the first 10 years . . . and how much they increase prices by!!

 

[Doingatun]

Bad at controlling leaks . . . the companies that took over from the water boards, were very well aware that they were buying an infrastructure that had had largely zero invested in it for 30 years. They then did the same for another 15 years filling shareholder pockets rather than the global strip and replace that it required!! . . Now they are wasting 3/4 of the water that enters the pipes from the reservoirs and Charging US for it :twisted: . . . and talking about charging us a premium to do what should have been in the contract from day 1 . . . Fix the pipes.

I don't think that things should be free, I just think that when companies take over public services they should be limited in what they take out for profits in the first 10 years . . . and how much they increase prices by!!

Yep.......they take the piss and deserve the rest :evil:

 

[jonewer]

Seems the water companies are engaging in some aggressive tax avoidance too

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/tax/ ... 96162.html

This suggests that almost a third of the money spent by people on water bills in England and Wales went to paying either interest charges on water company debt or dividends to their owners, most of which are now based overseas.

 

[Leeds Chimp]

on a meter....
brew+ 3 in the household 1 under 5

£21 a month anglian water

 

[falafael]

on a meter....
brew+ 3 in the household 1 under 5

£21 a month anglian water

That seems very good!

 

[Russ146]

Bloody 'ell, might just have a look at a meter, just read the bumph and it states "you can switch back to rateable value within 13 months of the meter being fitted" :!:


Our bill for this coming year ...... £522.81 :evil:

As much as i despise water companies that get a product that falls from the sky for free in copious amounts, naturally forms into rivers and lakes where they throw in piles of chlorine and pump it up some old Victorian pipes and make £££££Multi-millions ££££££pounds of profit, i had flatly refused to pay by a meter for something they got for nowt.

That was until my last bill was over £800 ( ok i have a big house that i have worked for) but why should i be ripped off for it?

I looked into a meter and the cost of water in and sewage charge is just over £3 per cubic meter or 1000litres which is a lot of water. My bill has dropped to £154 this year.

What will happen when everybody is on a meter i dont know but expect charges will go through the roof.

 

[zgoda]

Exactly what happened in Poland. We're now all on meters and water supply cost skyrocketed some 2 yrs ago.

 

[Wendy1971]

our water meter is getting fitted next friday well save lots :thumb:

 

[Russ146]

I'm surprised, to say the least, that so many people think water should be free. I've been to many countries where there is no running water, while our friends, who live in Spain, do have running water, but it's not safe to drink.

We take it for granted that whenever we turn on the tap, fresh, clean, unlimited water comes out - and yet millions of people still buy bottled water, because they think it's somehow better than tap water.

Your water bill pays for the infrastructure to collect that water and deliver it to your tap. It pays to have that water cleaned and treated, so that it's safe to drink. It pays for the infrastructure to take your waste away from your house and treat that, too (which is why your bills are lower if you have a septic tank).

While I agree that the water companies are often doing a bad job controlling leaks and haven't invested enough in new reservoirs, we should all be grateful that our water is actually very cheap. If you want free water, then set up some water butts. I use my collected rainwater for watering the garden, washing the car, etc, but I certainly wouldn't drink it or brew with it!

Hogwash!

In the first six months of last year Bristol Water made an eye watering £102,000,000 Profit!

Money that could have built schools, hospitals etc etc but instead went to the Malaysian businessmen that own Bristol Water and the greedy share holders.

Dont give me that BS about clean water, when i fill the Kettle up it smells and tastes like its from the local swimming pool and stinks of chlorine which is why I put my own filter system in.


Thames water, owned by a german bank, filled in 16 reservoirs to sell the land of for building! AKA asset stripping. So two days without rain and its a hose pipe ban because they dont have it, you couldnt make it up.

The river severn is a mile wide, all that fresh water pouring into the sea, if it was that valuble they would be storing it.

Wake up people, its yet another money making scam