Visit from the Water people

[Tin Pot]

cant remember the company name, but they've called offering to;

Check my water meter
Install aerators in our taps
Fit a new showerhead
Convert our toilets to dual flush
Check for and repair any minor leaks

For free.

My Cynicism Meter is tipping over into the red - what's their angle here..?

 

[srw]

They're incentivised to get their customers to use less water. You might well have been flagged as having an unusually high use for your area or street. Since your water is metered it's you who will be paying for it.

 

[Lonestar]

Yup but my philosophy is you don't get a free lunch for nothing in this life.What's their angle or what's the catch?

 

[nickyboy]

Yup but my philosophy is you don't get a free lunch for nothing in this life.What's their angle or what's the catch?

Actually you can. For example I got my loft fully reinsulated for free by showing that the insulation thickness wasn't as deep as it could be. There was an offer on from (I think) British Gas at the time. They in turn were incentivised to reinsulate customers' properties.

In the same way, Severn Trent (or which ever water supplier) is probably incentivised to kit out customers' homes with water saving devices and also incentivised to reduce the water consumption per household.

If it's the water company there is no catch

 

[srw]

My Cynicism Meter is tipping over into the red - what's their angle here..?

Yup but my philosophy is you don't get a free lunch for nothing in this life.What's their angle or what's the catch?

Take a read....

http://www.thameswater.co.uk/save-water/19054.htm

 

[snorri]

Whoever buys the house along the road from me will probably never realise the water level in the extensive duck pond is maintained by a constant flow of un-metered mains water. It's this sort of waste that would be detected by checks from our friendly local water supplier.

 

[Lonestar]

Well yes I'm all for not wasting water.My cynicism has served me well so far though.

 

[Starchivore]

Yup but my philosophy is you don't get a free lunch for nothing in this life.What's their angle or what's the catch?

There isn't really in this situation- if the OP is not on a meter and is paying a fixed monthly rate, it's in the company's interest to help him reduce the amount of water he uses. It saves them £

 

[Lonestar]

There isn't really in this situation- if the OP is not on a meter and is paying a fixed monthly rate, it's in the company's interest to help him reduce the amount of water he uses. It saves them £

Fair enough.I know...water is a valuable commodity.

 

[screenman]

How do aerators save water? If I want an amount of water in a pan, washing up bowl, basin, etc I run that amount. The fact that it comes with air doesn't obviously seem to help.

I think the idea is you use less when showering washing hands etc.

 

[screenman]

It's a great idea, but as I'm paying for what I use I decided to use a bit more in the shower and save it in other ways. For households with only one or two people in them, a water meter can cut water bills quite dramatically .

Can is the big word there, I am just about to go and check for leaks as our bill is a lot.

 

[User482]

It's a great idea, but as I'm paying for what I use I decided to use a bit more in the shower and save it in other ways. For households with only one or two people in them, a water meter can cut water bills quite dramatically .

Family of four here: we still pay less on a meter than we did on rates. That's despite using cloth nappies for both kids.

 

[nickyboy]

Family of four here: we still pay less on a meter than we did on rates. That's despite using cloth nappies for both kids.

Same...when we bough this house one of the first things we did was get a meter installed and the bill fell dramatically. Also successfully appealed the council tax banding but that's another story

 

[screenman]

Power washer?

Suprising no, always wash my cars at a customers garage.

 

[Starchivore]

Family of four here: we still pay less on a meter than we did on rates. That's despite using cloth nappies for both kids.

That's interesting. I've been dithering about a meter after stories put me off. I did the estimator tools and it didn't look like it would be worth it (2 bed terraced house, worth about 130k, 2 people working during most of the day)