Martin Lewis has issued a warning to anyone with a spare bedroom – because you cou;ld be paying too much for your water bill. The BBC Sounds star, aged 52, says if you have more bedrooms in your home than you do people then you “almost certainly should be using a water meter”.
“If it looks like you’ve fulfilled my rule of thumb then I’d go onto CCWater.org.uk, at the Consumer Council for Water. And then usually you get your firm to give you a proper assessment of how much it’s likely you will use,” ITV star Mr Lewis said.
“Now look, in most places you have two years to change back if it doesn’t work for you, some places only one. A few firms do not let you change back so check before you sign up what the situation is with your water firm.
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“If they say that fitting a water meter is not practicable, then actually what you do is you ask for an assessed charge and that means they will assess what your costs would have been likely to be if you had a water meter.
“So then if your assessed charge is lower than your water bill they go for the assessed charge, and if your assessed charge is higher than your water bill, stick on the water bill.” Speaking previously, Mr Lewis said: “Do you have more or the same number of people as bedrooms in your home? If the answer is no, a water meter may save you money in England and Wales.
“Two people, three bedrooms – why would that be better on a water meter? Because water rates are based on the rateable value of your house, which is a proxy for the value of your house. You’ve got this big old house here so they’ll be charging you a lot, but there’s only two people here so they won’t be using that much. Water meters measure your water usage and your sewage, so that will probably be cheaper.
“This can be hundreds of pounds. Now if you have a voluntary change, you usually have two years that you can switch back to water rates if a water meter isn’t working for you. If you’re disabled or you’ve got related medical issues that mean you need to use a lot of water or you’re on benefits, speak to your energy firm. There’s often, but not always, help available to you.”