Should you get a water meter? (and how to switch back)

Last updated: 29 October 2026

The average water and sewerage bill in England and Wales went up by £33 to £639 a year from 1 April 2026 (Water UK figures), and Ofwat’s 2024 price review locks in rises every April until 2030. You can’t switch supplier. What you can change is how you’re charged.

If you still pay an unmetered bill, that leaves one question: would a meter be cheaper? The internet answers with a rule of thumb — more bedrooms than people, get a meter. It’s a decent rule. It’s also wrong often enough to cost people money, because it counts heads and bills are about habits.

Information, not advice. We don’t recommend products or providers. Check the official source linked below before you act.

This guide covers England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland work differently — the calculator explains both if you pick them.

How you’re charged without a meter

An unmetered bill is based on your home’s rateable value — a notional rental value frozen in March 1990. It measures the property, not the people in it. Two retired people in the family house pay the same as the family of six next door.

That’s why the rule of thumb exists: if the property is bigger than the household, you’re probably paying for water you don’t use. The House of Commons Library puts it plainly — single occupiers are the most likely to benefit, and meters save most in homes with high rateable values.

How a metered bill actually works

Once the meter goes in, your bill has four parts:

1. Water standing charge — fixed, from £23.66 (United Utilities) to £66.87 (Thames) for 2026/27.
2. Water used — per cubic metre (1 m³ = 1,000 litres): £1.62 at Northumbrian, £2.18 Yorkshire, £2.55 Severn Trent, £2.73 Thames, £3.02 South West, £3.24 United Utilities.
3. Sewerage standing charges — often with a fixed surface water drainage charge on top (Yorkshire’s is £85.47).
4. Sewerage used — billed on 90–95% of what comes in, since some goes on the garden or evaporates. Thames uses 90%; the others we’ve verified use 95%.

Two things follow. The fixed charges alone can be £150–£200 a year before you’ve run a tap, so a very low user never gets a bill near zero. And the sewerage rate is sometimes higher than the water rate (South West: £4.69 against £3.02), so every litre down the drain costs you twice.

Why habits beat headcount

CCW’s own calculator assumes about 11,000 litres a person a year and then adjusts for habits. The adjustment is the whole game. These are the per-activity figures CCW publishes, and which we use:

Add toilets, taps and kitchen at roughly 55 litres a person a day (our assumption, built from those flush and tap figures) and the shape of a bill emerges fast. Three worked examples on 2026/27 rates:

One person, three-bed, Yorkshire Water. Seven six-minute electric showers a week, three dishwasher loads, two washes, no hose. Estimated use 43 m³ a year (about 118 litres a day). Metered bill about £388 — £148 water, £241 sewerage, most of that the fixed charges. Against the regional average unmetered bill of £636, the meter saves around £250 a year. The rule of thumb and the habits agree.

One person, one-bed flat, Thames Water, bath every night. Daily 80-litre baths plus a couple of mixer showers a week, three dishwasher and three washing loads. Estimated use 74 m³ a year (about 204 litres a day). Metered bill about £497. If the flat’s unmetered bill is £450, the meter costs about £47 more. Bedrooms equal people, so the rule of thumb shrugs — but the bath habit decides it.

Two people, three-bed, Severn Trent, mixer shower. This is the household the rule says should save. With daily eight-minute mixer showers each, a weekly bath, four dishwasher loads, four washes and a once-a-week hose in summer, estimated use is 156 m³ and the metered bill about £800 — against an average unmetered £587 in Severn Trent’s area, that’s £210 worse off. Cut the showers to five minutes and the gap drops to about £80. Same eight minutes under an electric shower and it’s level — which is roughly what a flow regulator on the mixer gets you too.

The one thing not to miss: the shower. At 15 litres a minute, a mixer shower is the single biggest lever in most metered homes. Two people shaving three minutes off a daily shower save about 33 m³ a year — around £135 on Severn Trent’s rates once sewerage is counted. If your calculator result is close, that’s where the margin lives.

Who can ask, and what it costs

• It’s free. Companies in England and Wales fit meters at no charge unless it’s impractical or unreasonably expensive, and should do it within three months (Citizens Advice).
• Renters can ask. If your fixed-term tenancy is under six months you need your landlord’s written permission; otherwise you don’t, though your agreement may ask you to tell them (Citizens Advice; Wessex Water).
• If it can’t be fitted, the company must offer an assessed charge — an unmetered bill based on the size of your home or household, often lower than the rateable-value bill for a single occupier. You only get it by applying for the meter first.
• Compulsory metering is under way in areas the Environment Agency classes as seriously water-stressed — much of the south and east. Thames Water is fitting meters to all homes, then giving a one-year comparison period before metered billing starts. Companies plan more than 10 million smart meters by 2030 (Waterwise), so in the south-east the question may be answered for you.

How to switch back if it goes wrong

This is the safety net, and it’s better than most people realise.

If you asked for the meter, you can ask to go back to unmetered charges within 24 months of it being fitted. The legal minimum is twelve months (House of Commons Library), but United Utilities and Wessex Water publish two years and CCW describes two years as the standard. Check your company’s wording — Wessex’s runs until 30 days after the bill at the end of your second year.

Three exceptions:

1. Compulsory meters. If the meter was fitted under a water-stressed-area programme, you can’t revert.
2. You moved into a metered home. The right belongs to the person who requested the meter at that address.
3. Second time round. You can’t opt in, switch back, then opt in again at the same address.

The meter stays on the wall; only the billing changes, and whoever moves in after you is billed on it.

Make the 24 months count. Diary a note for month 20. Compare your last four metered bills with your old unmetered one, adjusted for the April rise. If you’re worse off, ask the company in writing to revert to unmeasured charges. Nobody will chase you to do this.

Cut what the meter counts

On a meter, the kit that pays back fastest cuts hot water, because you save on the water and the energy to heat it. The Energy Saving Trust puts an efficient shower head at around £65 a year off combined bills for a typical GB home — see cut your energy bill for the rest of the hot-water picture.

Start with the free stuff. Most water companies send free water-saving devices — efficient shower heads, tap inserts, leaky-loo strips, shower timers and cistern bags — through the Get Water Fit postcode tool that CCW points customers to — start at CCW’s free water-saving devices page — or by searching your company’s own website for “free water saving”. That link earns us nothing; use it first.

If your company’s kit is out of stock, or you want a better shower head than the free one:

• An aerated water-saving shower head cuts a mixer shower from about 15 litres a minute towards 8–9 without feeling weak. On Severn Trent’s rates, two people showering daily for eight minutes save roughly 38 m³ and around £155 a year, before the heating saving.
• A cistern displacement bag saves about a litre a flush on an older single-flush loo — around 1.8 m³ a person a year for a couple of pounds. Don’t fit one to a dual-flush toilet; it already does the job.
• A leaky-loo strip (usually free from your company) finds the silent cistern leak that can waste hundreds of litres a day — the quickest way to turn a good meter decision into a bad one.

Struggling to pay? Check these first

If what you use is unavoidable and money is short, three schemes cut the bill regardless of the meter.

WaterSure caps a metered bill at the company’s average if someone in the home gets a qualifying benefit and you either have three or more children under 19 or a medical condition that needs extra water. Recipients saved an average of £325 in 2024/25. The government announced on 6 March 2026 that from early 2027 PIP, DLA and Attendance Allowance will count as qualifying benefits for the first time, the cap will fall to the lower of the overall or metered average (with a single-person cap for people living alone), no doctor’s note will be needed for listed conditions, and a household income limit of £25,745 a year will apply. If you were turned down before because you get PIP rather than an income benefit, apply again when the new rules start.

Social tariffs. Every company runs one — a discounted bill for low-income households, metered or not. Rules differ wildly, so start with CCW’s directory of every company’s scheme. Asking never raises your bill. The same logic applies to your phone and internet — see social tariffs for broadband and mobile.

Assessed charges, covered above, if a meter can’t be fitted — often the biggest saving of the three for someone living alone.

One reassurance: water companies in England and Wales cannot disconnect a home for an unpaid bill. If you’re behind, ask about a payment plan or hardship fund rather than ignoring letters.

Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland. You pay through council tax — Band D water and waste water is £652.32 for 2026/27, collected for Scottish Water, and council tax discounts such as the 25% single-person discount usually carry across. A meter is optional but you pay for installation (£248.15 for a standard 15mm meter), so it rarely pays.

Northern Ireland. Households get no water or sewerage bill; NI Water is funded from general taxation, and the Infrastructure Minister ruled out household charges in April 2024.

FAQ

Is a water meter cheaper if you have more bedrooms than people?

Usually. Unmetered bills follow the 1990 rateable value of the property, not the number of people in it, so a small household in a big house tends to overpay. But the rule breaks when habits are heavy — long mixer showers, daily baths, a hose in summer. Run the numbers with your own habits before you decide.

Can I switch back if a meter costs me more?

In England and Wales, yes — within 24 months of fitting if you asked for the meter (the legal minimum is twelve months; most companies publish two years). Not if it was fitted compulsorily, if you moved into an already-metered home, or if you’ve already switched back once at that address.

Does it cost anything to have a meter fitted?

No, in England and Wales. Companies fit them free unless it’s impractical or unreasonably expensive, normally within three months. In Scotland you pay for installation; Northern Ireland households aren’t billed for water.

Can I get a water meter if I rent?

Yes. Tenants have the right to ask. Under a fixed term shorter than six months you need the landlord’s written permission; otherwise you don’t, though it’s wise to tell them.

What is an assessed charge?

An unmetered bill based on your home’s size or your household’s size, offered when a meter can’t be fitted. It’s often cheaper than the rateable-value bill, especially for one person. You have to apply for the meter first.

How much water does the average person use?

About 139–150 litres a day (CCW; Ofwat). A mixer shower uses roughly 15 litres a minute, an electric shower 6, a bath 80, a washing machine load 56 and a dishwasher 25. Companies bill sewerage on 90–95% of what the meter records.

Rates and figures checked 29 October 2026 against each company’s 2026/27 charges scheme, CCW, Citizens Advice, GOV.UK and the House of Commons Library. Water charges change every 1 April. See our other money tools.

Just so you know: this guide is information and journalism, not financial advice, and we don't recommend specific financial products. Your circumstances are your own — if you need personal advice, speak to a suitably qualified adviser. Information was correct at the "last updated" date above but things change; always check the linked primary sources.

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