Changing to a water meter

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Changing to a water meter
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• You either pay your water bill based on a fixed
  rate or on the actual amount of water you use,
  measured with a water meter.
• This page explains your right to have a meter
  installed and the pros and cons of switching to a
  meter.

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Your right to have a meter installed

• You have a right to be charged for your water on
  the basis of what you use. This means you have a
  right to have a meter installed free of charge,
  unless it's not practical or is unreasonably
  expensive to do this.  Tenants also have the
  right to ask for a meter if their tenancy
  agreement is for six months or longer .
• If you're considering changing to a water meter,
  you should contact your water company. You could
  do this by phone, or you may be able to apply on
  their website.

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When is it a good idea to consider changing to a
water meter?

• Changing to a water meter may benefit you if you
  dont use much water.  
• It may also be worth changing to a meter if your
  property has a high rateable value. This is
  because some water bills are based on the
  rateable value of the property.

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• If you change to a water meter, the company will
  come to read your meter. You won't know exactly
  what you're going to be charged in every bill
   because the amount of water you use could
  increase if extra people come to live with you or
  if you buy any new water-using appliances.

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Benefits of water meters

• Water is a valuable commodity with global
  warming it appears to be even more scarce. A
  report suggested that British rivers could see an
  80 decline in water volumes during the summer
  months because of global warming and increased
  demand.
• With most scarce commodities like electricity and
  gas, you have to pay depending on how much you
  use. There would be no sense in providing
  electric sockets and then allowing people to
  consume as much as they like.

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• People have the assumption that water is free
  because it comes from the sky. But, clean
  drinking water has costs costs of collecting,
  costs of filtering and costs of delivery.
  Furthermore, the last units of water have a
  higher marginal cost. To supply an extra 10 of
  water we need to build a new reservoir which is
  more expensive than easier sources of water.

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• However, the last units of water have a declining
  marginal utility. The first 10 litres of water we
  use per day have a high marginal utility the
  water we drink. The next 50 litres have a
  reasonably high utility   the water we need for
  washing. But, the next 50 litres would be of
  doubtful utility. This is the water we used for
  hosing the car, using a sprinkler in the garden
  or the water we use unnecessarily.

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• water meterswould have many advantages
• Encourage water conservation important given
  strain on water resources
• Encourage allocatively efficient distribution.
  People would consume to where the marginal cost
  marginal utility
• In long term lower overall water consumption
  would reduce cost of investing in unnecessary
  reservoirs, leading to even lower water bills.

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water meters

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