Helping you understand your water usage As a metered customer your bill is based on the amount of water you use. This document will help you understand why your household may be using more water than you epected. It could be due to: high use of water using appliances eg, power showers. Normal showers use around 35 40 litres but power showers can use around 80 litres per use watering gardens a hose or sprinkler can use a significant amount of water problems with internal plumbing, appliances and overflows eg, dripping taps can waste at least 1,500 litres of water a year and most new toilet cisterns have an internal overflow down the back of the pan so wastage of water is not always obvious change in circumstances eg, having a baby or visitors staying other household members using more water than you epect topping up swimming pools and ponds a faulty or incorrectly set water softener if faulty they can run to waste almost continuously without being noticed a previous estimated bill a leak on your service pipe. Before you start looking for a leak, it is important to eliminate any other reasons why your water use might have increased. Calculate how much water you and your family use Your water use is affected by the number of people in your household, how often you use various appliances and the general condition of your internal pipework and appliances. To help you understand how much water your household uses each day, complete our easyto-follow checklist. Be careful not to under-estimate how many times you use each appliance and for how long. You can then compare what has been recorded on your meter during this billing period with what you would have epected to use. HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER USAGE 1
Calculating your water use To calculate your water use more accurately use the following table to see just how much water you use in your household. Water Use Quantity (litres) Number of people Total Personal Use (drinking and personal hygiene not bathing and showering) 175 Total number each week Toilet Standard Flush Dual Flush 7.5 to 9 5 Bath 80 Shower * Normal shower Power shower 45 80 Washing machine Old (pre 2000) New Water efficient 70 55 45 Use of kitchen sink (cooking, cleaning and washing up) 9 Dishwasher Normal Water efficient 18 13 Minutes used per week Garden/Outdoor Use Hosepipe/sprinkler 10 GRAND TOTAL Divide by 1000 to give cubic metres / 1000 Multiply by 52 weeks to give annual usage X 52 (reduce the number of weeks if your property was empty during the year) TOTAL ANNUAL USAGE IN CUBIC METRES (m 3 ) *Assumes a five minute shower based on average flow rates. Comparing your epected water use with your bill Work out your epected annual water use for your household in cubic metres (m 3 ) and then divide this by 365 to get your epected daily usage. Compare this with the number of cubic metres for the actual period you have been billed for. 2 HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER USAGE
This shows the number of days which the bill covers Did you know? Understanding the comparison This shows the amount of water used in cubic metres Your bill is based on cubic metres of water supplied and 1 cubic metre equals 1,000 litres or approimately 220 gallons (1 gallon 8 pints). Water meters are reliable and tested before leaving the factory. They are very simple in construction and faults are rare. If a fault does occur it will generally result in the meter slowing down and it may even stop recording water use. The water use will not match eactly. If the water use shown on your bill is higher than you would epect this could be due to one of the factors listed on page 1. If your water use is much higher than you epected, follow steps 1 to 3 on the net page to see if you have a leak. In Britain, on average, we use 150 litres of water per person per day. First some facts about domestic water meters and pipework responsibility You are responsible for the maintenance of the plumbing inside your home, for eample, all pipework, water tanks, taps and overflows. It is worth checking your household insurance policy to see if you are covered for the cost of repairs to internal pipework. By law you are also responsible for the supply pipe from your house to the outside boundary of your property. Where your supply pipe crosses third party land, you are responsible for the pipe from the point where it leaves our water main in the highway. HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER USAGE 3
If you suspect you have a leak Step 1 Check your internal stop tap is working This is often located under the kitchen sink or in a connecting garage. It is important that your stop tap is working to complete all checks on your supply and to shut off your mains water in an emergency. If it isn t working then please call a plumber. If we need to check your supply for you we will not be able to do so if the internal stop tap is not working. Step 2 Find your water meter and take a reading Locating your water meter Take a notepad and pen with you and locate your water meter. Usually the meter will be fitted outside your home close to the boundary of your property. Normally this is in the front garden or pavement. The meter normally sits inside an underground chamber and is connected to your water supply pipe at the bottom of this chamber. You will find a lid normally marked water covering the chamber. In some circumstances, a meter may have been fitted inside your property. It is usually fitted under the sink or near to the stop tap. If you live in a flat or apartment your water meter and our stop tap may be in a cabinet inside the building or in an underground chamber outside. Your meter should be marked with your flat number. a b c d e Water main our responsibility Eternal stop tap our responsibility Supply pipe your responsibility Internal stop tap your responsibility Internal pipework your responsibility Property boundary e b Supply pipe c d Water main a 4 HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER USAGE
Generally speaking, don t worry if you see some water in the chamber when you read the meter. This is likely to be rainwater. However, if you do find water in the chamber after a prolonged dry spell, and your water usage is high, it may be the sign of a leak. Please follow the leakage checks in step 3. Access Once you have located your meter, lift the outer lid if you can (internal meters do not have a lid) using a flat-headed screwdriver. If there is a polystyrene cover remove this and pull up the inner meter lid, if fitted, to view the meter face. Each water meter has its own unique serial number which is shown on the second page of your metered bill in the top right hand corner. Please make sure you have located the correct meter by checking that the meter serial number matches the one shown on your bill. Read the meter Make sure no appliances are operating and you are not using any water. Look at the meter face. Read the black numbers which measure cubic metres. Only these numbers are used to bill you. 1m 3 1,000 litres 100 litres To check for leakage or when calculating the use of individual appliances you will need to read the red numbers. They measure litres. Write these numbers down. A spinner may also be found on the meter face. This device is circular(it may be an arrow but should not be confused with the arrow sometimes used on some meters to record tenths of a litre) and spins rapidly when water is used. Unique serial number 10 litres 1 litre DE-07-MI 001-PTB002 07 808478 620 1 1 1 1 m 3 0102 R315 M07 0 0,0001 Q 3 2,5 9 1 MAP16 bar 8 2 7 3 6 4 5 Tenths of a litre dial Spinner spins rapidly when water is used - may move slowly if you have a small leak, a dripping tap or while a ball valve is closing. HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER USAGE 5
If the meter dials are not moving you do not have a leak. The meter has recorded the water you have used and the full amount of the bill is payable. Please see back cover for information about how you can reduce your water usage. If they are moving you may have a leak on your private supply pipe or within your property, please follow the leakage checks below. Step 3 Leakage check Firstly turn off the internal stop tap, turn on the kitchen cold tap and check that no water comes out you may need to let it run for a few minutes before it stops. If the water continues to flow then you have not fully shut off the internal stop tap or it is faulty and needs repairing. In this case you will need to repair it yourself, or call your own plumber. Observe the meter. If there is movement on the meter it is likely there is a leak on the eternal supply pipe. If the meter stops moving after the internal stop tap has been turned off you may have a leak or problem with your internal pipework or fittings. You will need to locate and repair the problem yourself, or ask a plumber to investigate and repair this for you. If you are unable to carry out these investigations yourself and you don t have anyone to help you, please call us on 0345 600 3 600 (Monday Friday, 8am 6pm). Free leak repair service We may be able to help you reduce leaks on your eternal underground supply pipework up to the eternal wall of the house, subject to certain conditions under our LeakStop scheme. You need to contact us on 0345 600 3 600 (Monday Friday, 8am 6pm) to report the leak and discuss the effect on your billing account. Please ensure that you have carried out the checks in steps 1 to 3 before calling us. Leak allowances If a leak on a supply pipe has caused your metered bill to rise, we normally offer domestic customers a full allowance on the first occasion and 50% allowance on water lost from the supply pipe on the second occasion whilst you live at the property. Commercial customers are covered by a separate leakage policy. 6 HELPING YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR WATER USAGE