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Your Water Bill Is Probably Higher Than It Needs To Be — Here’s How to Fix It
Most people look at their water bill and do absolutely nothing about it.
And I get it — unlike energy, you can’t shop around. Your water supplier is determined by your postcode, the same way your local council is. You’re stuck with them.
But here’s what most people don’t realise: not being able to switch your supplier doesn’t mean you’re powerless. There are households in the UK saving £100, £150, even £200 a year on water — without moving house, without any special gadgets, and without becoming obsessed with shorter showers.
This post covers exactly what you can do, starting today. Including a 5-minute audit you can do right now.
The Single Biggest Thing you can do: Get a Water Meter
This is the one move that makes the biggest difference for most households, and most people either don’t know they can request one for free or assume it’ll make things worse.
Here’s the reality: if you live alone, as a couple, or in a small family in a medium-to-large property, a water meter will almost certainly save you money. The formula is simple — you only pay for what you use, rather than a fixed charge based on your property’s rateable value.
The average unmetered household pays around £460 a year for water and sewerage. Switch to a meter, reduce your usage even modestly, and households commonly report savings of £80 to £150 per year. In higher-usage areas like London, some households have reported saving over £200 annually after switching.
You can request a free meter installation from your water supplier. Most will install it at no cost. If you try it and your bills go up (which can happen in large families with high usage), most suppliers allow you to switch back within 24 months.
The Social Tariff- the scheme most people haven’t heard of
Every major water company in England and Wales is required to offer a social tariff — a reduced rate for households on low incomes or benefits. But unlike, say, the Warm Home Discount for energy, this one isn’t automatically applied. You have to ask.
Eligibility varies by supplier, but generally if your household is on Universal Credit, Pension Credit, or has a low income relative to your water bill, you may qualify. Some suppliers cap your annual bill at a fixed amount. Others offer a percentage reduction.
Thames Water’s social tariff, for example, can reduce bills by up to 50% for eligible households (if their annual bill exceeds 5% of their net income). That could mean saving £230 or more per year for a struggling household on an average bill.
If your supplier is not Thames Water pplie search “[your supplier name] social tariff” to find the application. Takes about 15 minutes and could be the highest-value 15 minutes you spend this year.
Wateruse: If your household uses a lot of water for medical reason
WaterSure is a national scheme that caps metered water bills for households that genuinely need to use high volumes of water — for example, if a family member has a medical condition requiring frequent washing or bathing, or if you have three or more children under 19 at home.
The cap varies by supplier but is typically set at or below the average household bill for your area. So if your usage is high but your income is limited, WaterSure means you pay average — not actual.
Again, this isn’t automatic. You apply through your water supplier, and your GP may need to confirm a medical condition if that’s the basis for your application.
The 5 Min Water Bill Audit
Do this now. Seriously, it takes five minutes and most people find at least one quick win.
Step 1 — Find your current annual bill amount. It’s on your statement or online account. Write it down.
Step 2 — Check whether you’re on a meter or unmetered. If you don’t know, call your supplier. This alone changes everything about what options are available to you.
Step 3 — If unmetered: go to the Consumer Council for Water’s meter calculator at ccwater.org.uk and plug in your household size and usage. It will estimate whether a meter would save you money. If it says yes, request one immediately.
Step 4 — Search “[your supplier name] social tariff” and check whether you or anyone in your household qualifies. If there’s any chance you do, apply.
Step 5 — Check for a leak. A dripping tap wastes around 5,500 litres a year — that’s roughly £15 to £20 of water going down the drain for nothing, and that’s just one tap. A running toilet can waste 400 litres a day, costing you up to £300 extra per year if you’re metered. Put a piece of toilet paper behind the cistern. If it gets wet, you have a leak. Report it to your landlord or fix it yourself — a new toilet flap costs about £5 from any hardware store.
Step 6 — Apply for free water-saving devices. Most UK water companies will send you free water-saving gadgets — aerators for taps, shower timers, cistern bags to reduce flush volume. Search “[your supplier name] free water saving devices” or visit savewatersavemoney.co.uk. Completely free, takes two minutes to order.
Free Water- saving devices that actually make a difference
Your supplier will send these for free, but here’s what’s worth having:
Cistern displacement device (also called a hippo bag or save-a-flush bag): sits inside your toilet cistern and reduces the amount of water used per flush by around 1 litre. If your household flushes an average of 5 times per day per person, a family of four could save around 7,000 litres per year. At current water rates, that’s approximately £15 to £20 per year — not life-changing, but genuinely free.
Tap aerators: reduce the flow of your taps without reducing pressure. Typically cut water usage at the tap by 50%. Free from most suppliers.
Shower timer: sounds patronising but the data is real. The average UK shower is 8 minutes. Cutting to 5 minutes per person saves around 30 litres per shower. For a family of four showering daily, that’s roughly 43,000 litres per year, or approximately £100 saved annually on a meter.
Water saving water heads e.g. Methven.
What about water filters? Are they worth it?
If you’re in London or a hard water area, you’re probably buying bottled water or running through filter jugs. Bottled water is a silent budget killer — a family spending £5 a week on bottled water is spending £260 a year on something that comes out of the tap.
A decent water filter jug (Brita, for example) costs around £25 and replacement filters run about £5 each. Even with quarterly replacements, that’s roughly £45 a year versus £260. Saving of around £215 per year for a household buying modest amounts of bottled water.
If you have a larger household or strong preference for filtered water, an under-sink filter is worth considering. They run £80 to £150 installed and the filters last 6–12 months, so the payback period is typically under a year.
A quick note on Thames Water and Affinity Water Specifically
If you’re in London, you’re almost certainly with Thames Water. They have been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent years — financial difficulties, infrastructure issues, sewage discharge. None of that affects what you pay or your ability to access their support schemes, but it does mean you should register your contact details with them and sign up for their service alerts, because supply interruptions do happen and you want to be informed, not caught out.
Thames Water offer a Priority Services Register for vulnerable customers — those with medical conditions, disabilities, or households with young children or elderly residents. Being on this register gets you faster response times and additional support during outages. Register at thameswater.co.uk.
Affinity Water similarly offer a Priority Services Register and have a reasonable track record on social tariff accessibility.
What to do once you finished reading this post?
If you do nothing else after reading this, do these three things:
One — Find out if a meter would save you money. Use the CCWater calculator. If yes, request a free installation from your supplier.
Two — Check whether you qualify for your supplier’s social tariff. If there’s a reasonable chance you do, spend 15 minutes applying. The potential saving is too large to ignore.
Three — Order your free water-saving devices. Go to savewatersavemoney.co.uk. Takes two minutes.
That’s it. Three actions, probably under an hour of your time in total, with a realistic combined saving of £100 to £300 per year depending on your circumstances.
Your water bill isn’t fixed. Most people just never question it.
* In 2002, the Government said that it won’t introduce competition for household customers. It was due to the fact that the cost and complexity of the regulatory regime that would be required would outweigh any benefits (source: http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/)
Disclaimer- this post was originally published on 22/6/2014 but was refreshed on 25/4/2026.