Was just wondering what others pay, and consume, as we have just received our first bill.
And am very happily surprised that, having moved from a tiny, pocket handkerchief garden at the back of a one bedroom villa unit to a 2 bedroom house on nearly a hectare that our latest water bill (same council therefore same rate) is $7.88 LESS than before even taking into account this years price rise :shock
Now, before jumping to any conclusions, i should point out that the owners corporation (where we lived for 6 yrs) decreed in its wisdom all unit holders would share in the common water expenses - fair enuf, i hear you say and we agreed too. Share and share alike in what is common to all we naively thought.
However, what we did not take into account when we moved to that block was the water bill was divided equally between all the 6 unit holders thus creating much conflict when water savers (like us) banged up against water wasters (like all the others). And so we ended up being "charged" for what we never consumed. It was a common and not individual unit holders water meter.
Anyway, our first and current bill in our new home has just arrived and we (still 2 people) have used just 46 kilolitres in 6 mths 3 weeks which is really a fantastically low figure - only 23Kl each.
The previous owners here (also just 2 people) used on average 435Kl for each billing period over the past 3 yrs or about 217Kl each!!
So... am i barking up the wrong tree and should not be as proud of these low figures as i am or ...
What are yours so we can compare?
[edit - thanks Kashi, forgot to include service charges etc.]
Water Service Charge - - $117.46 yrly
Sewer Service Charge - - $429.11 yrly
Drainage " " - - $ 83.12 yrly (we live on a lake - council is remediating all inflows to it)
Water Usage - - $ 78.04 6 mthly
Therefore, per week = $7.56 per person (only 2 people)
That's good. We used 97 KL for 3 adults for 6 months. That's inside use only, we have a tank to use for washing the car and watering the garden. Don't drink it either, all of us have had Giardia. Nobody goes to work or school. Water cost $161.99, Climate Change Fund was $7.86 for a total of $169.85. Annual charges are Water Service $91.93, Drainage $72.03 and Sewerage $463.59, so that's $6.20 per person per week all up. Haha, it's like working out Cr/Hr/Core for BOINC projects. :)
There was some comparison of different water usage on another forum I visit. What was discovered there was the biggest difference is between people that go out to work/university/whatever all week and those who are retired/unemployed and are at home most of every day.
I used 49Kl in 6 months on my own, at a cost of $31. Water rates (supply & drainage) are a touch under $700.
Since I use a reticulation pump for the garden, I'm not using town water there.
Of course, the government's "experts" have BS'd the government into legislating against the routine use of reticulation pumps which used to attract a government installation subsidy. The excuse was that the water-table is falling, and excess reticulation is responsible. The fact that 99% of the water pumped up by a reticulation system is returned to the ground just doesn't register with them. The real reason is that the overloaded water-meter-readers expected to report regulations-breaches (so much under pressure they don't have the time to close the flap over the meter once they've read it) would need extra training in how to distinguish between a watering system driven by a pump and one using the town water supply.
A large proportion of the water rates are for drainage - and I get to pay it regardless of whether or not my house is connected to the sewer (and the government has legislated to force everyone who can connect to do so.)
So what the government is doing is charging to supply the water from the dams, then charging again to take it away. The water is treated and dumped out to sea, rather than being returned to the water-table through the septic-tank system, filtered by nature's own patented water-filtration system - mile upon mile of sand.
So since the experts don't have a clue, and the government is only interested in revenue-gathering - frankly m'dear, I just don't give a damn.