Cost of water....

[Georgina]

I don't think anyone really knows how much they use unless they are a miserly type and don't have kids.  As I said our meter is not possible to read because of the moisture under the face and it involves looking down a ruddy great hole.  The swimming pool did not get a look in this year so next bill should be less.

[Sola]

Water price does vary from commune to commune...we very fortunately live in a commune that 60 or so years ago the mayor decided to buy up a couple of lakes...our commune now supplies water to other communes so we pay much less....the privillage of having a mayor years ago with his head screwed on!! Also the more we use the less we pay....but in reality it would only become less if you were a farmer having to provide it for your animals.....The mayor should have the current prices for water in your area.

[sid]

[quote user="Georgina"]I don't think anyone really knows how much they use unless they are a miserly type and don't have kids.  As I said our meter is not possible to read because of the moisture under the face and it involves looking down a ruddy great hole.  The swimming pool did not get a look in this year so next bill should be less.[/quote]

I don't think anyone would complain UNLESS they knew how much they used. Water is after all a valuable resource, although many people don't think anything about washing hands under running taps etc. You should try a summer of water shortages! [:-))] It's in your own interest to check that your bill is correct. If you can't read the meter perhaps you've been the victim of a misread?

Don't you know how much electricity you use either? Or how much fuel in the car? Oh to be so rich (or foolish) that I could fritter my hard-earned cash away without a second thought.

[Georgina]

Sid -Don't you know how much electricity you use either? Or how much fuel in the car? Oh to be so rich (or foolish) that I could fritter my hard-earned cash away without a second thought.

Guess not. But that is why I decided to do something about it.

Georgina 

[powerdesal]

Georgina,

A couple of thoughts, having just read all 3 pages of this thread. Can you see the little arrow on the meter? If you can is it rotating? Now turn off all supplies so that you are not taking any water, ie no toilets flushing no taps running etc. Does the arrow stop rotating? If it does not then there is a leak somewhere.

If you cant read the meter numbers, how does the meter reader do it? Are you being estimated, your bill should indicate that (I think).

[Gardian]

[quote user="Georgina"]

I have just been to the Water office and they are sending a very nice young man to my house to check for leaks next week, gratuit. Excellent.

Georgina 

[/quote]

Enjoy Georgina, enjoy !  [;-)]

[Gardian]

[quote user="oakbri"]

I have been billed for an average of 305 metre cubed each time, so 610 meteres per year. [/quote]

Seriously, that's a lot of water - roughly 3x what we use and we don't go out of our way to be frugal.  You've got a leak .......... and a big one.

[Georgina]

Right, the very nice young man has been and we have a leak.  He showed me how to read it - it involved banging the meter with a very large screwdriver, too technical for me.  Anyhow the last red number goes round very slowly when we are not using water.  Now the problem is finding the leak.  I have listened intently around the house(and I have good hearing), now looks like we are going to have to undo everything to find it.  Anyone got a stethoscope? What advice do you have Sid apart from obviously calling a plombier and waiting six months, digging up the garden (which the dog is doing as we speak) is there anything I can check that I cannot hear? Help.

Georgina

[oakbri]

Hi Gardian

No leak. We did have one in the front garden when we arrived in 2002 but one of the first jobs I did was rip out all the old plumbing and ran a new pipe from the water meter up to my house.

Just to make sure I just checked my meter again, and with no taps on all the indicators are stationary. I guess we need to start showering less! 

[sid]

Sorry Georgina, I can't suggest anything better than calling a plumber. I don't know why you'd have to wait 6 months though. Perhaps we're just fortunate but ours lives just around the corner and would at least have a look immediately. Ask around for recommendations, I wouldn't recommend someone who takes 6 months to turn up. We had a problem here with freezing, and it turned out that the main pipe was only a few inches underground. We finished up having a new main from the road to the house; 89 metres of plastic piping buried at 80cms, if my memory serves me right.

Sid

[Georgina]

Blimey, how much did that cost you?

Georgina