How To Lower Your Water Bill & Save Money
The recent cost of living crisis has already affected many UK families and households since late 2021. Now, with energy bills increasing from April 1st 2022, the average water bill could rise as high as £420 this year.
In order to try and save as much money wherever possible, we've created this short blog featuring some of the easiest and best ways you can help to reduce the amount of water you use to cut the cost of your water bill.
1. Have a shower, instead of a bath
According to expert boiler maker Worcester Bosch, taking a short 10 minute shower is cheaper than running a bath.
Worcester Bosch's Director of Technical Support, Martyn Bridges, told The Guardian: “A typical bath requires about 90 litres of water, split between 60 litres or so of hot water and 20 to 30 of cold."
He continues: "A normal thermostatic mixer shower head discharges about nine litres a minute, requiring about six litres of hot and three litres of cold. So, providing you shower in less than 10 minutes, it will be more economical to shower.”
2. Update your toilet to a dual flush system
According to Waterwise, about 30% of the total water used in a home is used to flush the toilet.
Update your toilet to use a dual flush button, giving the user the choice of how much water to use. Dual flush toilets typically use between 4-6 litres, whereas the traditional flush style of toilets use a huge 13 litres per flush!
3. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth
This is a simple change you can easily make to your daily routine. According to Ofwat, a running tap uses up to nine litres of water a minute.
So, if you're a four-person household and each brush your teeth twice a day for the recommended two minutes, you could be saving around 144 litres each day.
4. Repair or replace leaking taps
Don't procrastinate any longer! According to Waterwise, a dripping tap could be wasting around 5,500 litres of water per year. Many leaking taps simply need the washer replacing.
5. Choose an eco-friendly shower head
The Energy Saving Trust says that replacing your shower head with a more water efficient one could save a four-person household as much as £38 a year on gas for water heating, as well as a further £53 a year on water bills if they have a water meter†. That’s a total saving of around £91 per year.
6. Only use your washing machine when it's full
Wait until you have enough washing to fill your washing machine, instead of running it at half capacity. This will reduce the number of times you need to use the machine and therefore the amount of water it uses.
Even if your washing machine has a half load button, Save The Student says it will still use over half the amount of water used in a full load!
7. Keep cold water in the fridge
Do you like a refreshing cold glass of water? Instead of waiting for the water to get cold enough from the tap (wasting water in the process) fill your glass from the tap right away and store in your fridge so you have cold water at all times!
8. Fit a water butt to collect rainwater
Collect rain water off your roof by using a water butt - usually storing about 200 litres of water. You can then use this water for plants in your garden, rather than using a hose to fill watering cans.
Was this guide helpful?
We hope that this guide has helped you to find new ways of saving money on your water bills.
Feel free to share this blog with others, perhaps you know someone who would also benefit from some of these tips and tricks!
†Calculation is based on replacing a 9.82 litre/minute shower head with a 7.7 litre/minute water efficient shower head. Water efficient shower heads are incompatible with electric showers.