If you’re on a water meter then I guarantee you’ll be able to reduce your water bill come down if you follow the steps below – and I feel like I can guarantee that because I did them and mine has reduced drastically.
I genuinely thought we were doing OK with our water usage and that our bill was pretty much in the same ballpark as what everyone else paid. Until I got a letter saying my payments were going up that is! We were told that our monthly payments up to £46 which is made up of £42 a month that they thought we’d use each month going forward and £4 extra that we needed to pay each month to catch up on what we owed as we’d somehow used more water than expected in the previous six months so our monthly payments hadn’t covered it. Our water company only bill every six months now in case you were wondering.
I did some research and found that the average water bill in our area for a family of four is around £37 so we were using about 10-15% more than the average household which didn’t seem right at all seeing as we were already doing things to save water.
So I took drastic action and got everyone in the house involved with my save water and reduce our bill campaign! Our efforts have been rewarded as we’ve now been able to reduce our payments and it looks as though our usage is now classed as below average.
And the best part is that all of the tips (except for the shower one) are easy to implement and don’t really need much effort. Once you have a bit more awareness about what’s using all the water you can make some easy changes and voila, a much healthier looking water bill.
Just for some context with the savings below – my water provider charges me per cubic meter for both my water usage (124.68p) and sewerage charges (120.39p). A cubic metre equates to 1000 litres so for every 1000 litres of water I save over the year, I’ll save around £2.45.
Get a free water saving kit
My local water company are happy to send out lots of clever little water saving devices and have a great list of things you can choose from. I went through the list and picked out the things that I knew would help me and a week later a handy box of tricks arrived.
I’m not sure if all water companies offer this but I know that quite a few do! Either have a look at your water company’s website or have a look here where you can pop your postcode in and check if you’re eligible for one. I won’t go into everything that you get as I’ll probably cover most below in the rest of my tips. You can do most things I suggest without the water kit though – this just makes things easier.
Spend less time in the shower
Apparently reducing your shower time by just one minute can save up to £30 a year per person which is a potentially huge saving if you have a teenager like me who could disappear into the shower for so long that I worry she’s fallen down the plug hole. We realised that getting her to reduce her shower time from 15 minutes to 10 minutes will reduce our bill by a huge £150 a year so we popped a little egg timer in the shower cubicle to make her realise how long she’s been in there for. If you could encourage everyone in your house to stay in the shower for less time then you’re definitely going to be saving money.
Turn off the taps
An average of 10% of your water bill comes from the sinks in your house so if you master this one, you’ll see a nice little reduction in your bill. Don’t leave the tap running when you brush your teeth – this alone as it can waste around six litres of water each time so if you consider that per person per year it definitely adds up. The same goes for when you’re having a wash or if anyone’s having a shave as that could account for another 12 litres a day.
I think most people already do this but if you run the water while you’re washing the pots rather than filling a washing up bowl then you’re potentially wasting another 18 litres there too.
Use less water in the bath – or even better, just take a shower.
This one makes me a bit sad as I love a good soak in the bath and I even get up earlier on a morning so I can start my day with a bath before work. I knew that I used a bit too much water but I let myself off that because I didn’t think it was THAT much extra – turns out it was because when I measured how much water I had in an average bath with my little water measurer that I got in my water kit, I used around 120 litres of water which is a lot.
Considering I have a bath most days, this was a massive money suck on our water bill. I do love a bath though and I’m not going to stop having them on a morning but I have cut down to every second day using less water than before. I have a shower on the other days which uses even less than a bath.
Be a smart flusher
I have Save-a-flush packs in each of our toilets that take up space in the cistern meaning that when it fills after a flush, it takes less water to fill. Having something like this will save 1 litre every time you flush so again, a small saving that takes no effort and really adds up quickly. You can get these from your local water company for free usually and they’re brilliant.
Check for drips
I had no idea that just one dripping tap could waste as much as 9 litres of water every day! Make sure you check often for dripping taps and do what you need to do to fix it – notice I say do what you have to do rather than tell you because I haven’t got a clue. 😉
Get a water butt
If you’re a gardener then you might like to consider a water butt! I have a greenhouse that I’m planning to use more this Summer to grow some fruit and veg which means that I’ll be using my watering can frequently through the Summer. That’s about 10 litres a day so I could definitely do with reducing that water usage if I can.
I ordered a cheap water butt from my local water provider a while ago to collect rainwater so I can use that to fill my watering can but it had wonky legs when it came so it had to go back. I was going to just get a like for like replacement but once I’d seen the one I’d ordered initially I decided a bigger one would be better so I need to get on that and get one ordered.
Fill your appliances
Try and only use your washing machine and dishwasher when you have a full load in there. Two half loads use less water (and energy for that matter) then one full load uses. This can save 8 litres per washing machine load and 2 litres per dishwasher load.
Ditch the pressure washer and hosepipe
A pressure washer uses a massive amount of water – 400 litres of water an hour to be exact which is a HUGE amount so try and avoid using one unless it’s pretty essential. A hosepipe is as bad, if not worse, using about 170 litres of water every 20 minutes which again adds up massively. Just watering your garden for 10 minutes every day throughout August would work out to more than 2500 litres.
Keep a jug of drinking water in the fridge
Rather than run your tap for a while before you fill your glass to get cold water, fill a jug and pop it in the fridge so you have cold water on hand whenever you want it.
Check your Water Filter Setup:
One thing for some of you to consider – your water filtration setup might be wasting water especially if it’s a reverse osmosis system. RO systems are notorious for water waste with an average waste ratio of 3 gallons per 1 gallon filtered. There are many other RO alternatives that are efficient and waste less water, you just have to find the one that suits your needs. If you’re looking for a full home water filtration system, you can read waterfilterspot reviews of the best whole house water filters.
If you want to reduce your water bill, these tips will definitely help. I promise. 😉
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