Metered water charges
| Metered water charges | |
| Subject | How metered customers are charged, and how a leak reaches a bill |
|---|---|
| Jurisdiction | England and Wales |
| Charging power | Water Industry Act 1991, section 142 |
| Charges schemes | Water Industry Act 1991, section 143 |
| Liability | Water Industry Act 1991, section 144 |
A metered customer is charged for the volume of water recorded as passing into the property. Because a meter registers everything that passes it, water lost through a leak on the customer's own supply pipe is measured and charged in the same way as water that is used. That is the mechanism by which a concealed leak reaches a bill, and it is usually the first indication that one exists.
The charging framework[edit]
Section 142 of the Water Industry Act 1991 confers the power on undertakers to fix and recover charges for the services they provide.[1] Section 143 provides for charges schemes, the instruments by which those charges are set out.[2] Section 144 deals with liability for charges, including who is liable as occupier.[3] Section 146 covers connection charges separately.[4]
The framework is statutory but the amounts are not: charges are set by each undertaker within it, so what a customer pays per unit depends on their supplier as well as on their consumption.
How a leak shows on a bill[edit]
A leak downstream of the meter is indistinguishable from consumption as far as the meter is concerned. A pinhole passing a small continuous volume produces a bill that rises without any change in the household's behaviour, and because the loss is steady rather than sudden it is often mistaken for a tariff change or a billing error before it is recognised as a leak.
The standard test uses the meter itself: close every outlet, watch the fine-resolution indicator, and any continued registration means water is leaving the system. Closing the internal stop tap and repeating the observation then establishes whether the loss is inside the property or on the buried supply pipe between the meter and the building. Two things commonly confound it — automatic fills such as a cistern, a softener regenerating or an irrigation controller, and a stop tap that passes water when supposedly closed.
Where the meter sits, and why it matters[edit]
A meter in an external boundary chamber measures everything from that point onwards, including the whole length of the customer's buried supply pipe. A meter fitted internally where the supply enters the building does not: a leak on the buried length upstream of it is not recorded, and will show as a discrepancy against the undertaker's own network measurement rather than on the customer's bill.
The same leak can therefore be visible or invisible on a bill depending only on where the meter was installed, which is a matter of local practice and the age of the connection.
Scotland[edit]
Household metering is not the norm in Scotland, where charges are generally collected with council tax and water and sewerage services are provided by Scottish Water under the Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002.[5] The mechanism described here, by which a leak reaches a metered bill, applies to England and Wales.
See also
References
- ^Water Industry Act 1991, section 142: powers of undertakers to charge. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05
- ^Water Industry Act 1991, section 143: charges schemes. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05
- ^Water Industry Act 1991, section 144: liability of occupiers etc. for charges. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05
- ^Water Industry Act 1991, section 146: connection charges etc. and charges for highway drainage. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05
- ^Water Industry (Scotland) Act 2002. legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 2026-09-05