Last October we had a water meter fitted and, since we had previously paid a fixed bill, have been in credit since then. We were therefore slightly perturbed to receive a bill yesterday for over £400! According to the meter reading, we had used 301 cubic metres of water between 20 October 2010 and 10 September 2011, which works out at about 0.899m³ per day which would be a high rate of usage even if we had three times as many people living in the house and kept a pet seal in the bathroom!

First thing this morning, I popped outside to check the meter and it showed a reading of just under 308m³, which indicates a much smaller figure of 0.103m³ per day. That would place as at the very low end of the scale but, given that we take numerous water saving measures, such as saving the run-off from waiting for the tap to warm up in the morning and then using it to bucket-flush the toilet, that seems more realistic.

Although I rang with some trepidation, I have to say that I found Thames Water very helpful on the phone. There was no argument that there was something wrong with the figure and they are sending someone out next week to check the meter. I am feeling a bit more optimistic than I was last night that being on a meter will yield a significant saving. We are not quite in the clear yet but one thing is sure: we will definitely be starting to heed the advice to take regular readings to check our meter reading.