Water Companies Use Smart Meters to Impose Surge Pricing During Heatwaves
Water companies will use smart meters to increase prices in the summer, meaning customers will pay more during heatwaves. The Telegraph has more.
Surge pricing trials are being introduced for customers with smart water meters at 15 companies across the country.
Under the pilot schemes, water costs either change depending on the time of year or become more expensive as customers use more.
Ofwat, the industry regulator, said that the trials, planned for the next five years, would increase prices “when water is scarce” and could potentially be extended to all customers.
The Government is backing a nationwide rollout of smart water meters in an attempt to reduce water consumption, which ministers believe could help prevent hosepipe bans and other water rationing.
Millions in the South East and Yorkshire are facing hosepipe bans this month after heatwaves left vast areas of Britain in drought, with temperatures of up to 32°C expected over the weekend.
During hot weather, households use up to double the amount of water, which risks higher charges under surge pricing.
The average household of four consumes 438 litres of water per day, according to Southern Water.
Seasonal tariffs, such as a scheme planned by Anglian Water, will encourage customers to “reduce discretionary water usage” during the summer months.
The company previously said smart water meters could make it “feasible” to introduce “separate additional fees for sprinkler users, hosepipe users, outside tap users, swimming pools”.
Notice how smart meters only ever make the price go up.
Britain is a very wet island. Any ‘drought’ or water shortage is due to mismanagement and a failure to plan, not due to a lack of water. Rationing and surge pricing of water just shows that the water companies – and the government – are not doing their jobs properly.
Worth reading in full.
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So being held to ransom again, its not due to lack of investment, new reservoirs to accomodate a soaring population?, it has to be “climate/heatwaves”, whenever we actually have one, not so long ago, wettest month on record, my water bill has gone up by 29% YW, yet others by more, last year the CEO pocketed £1.028,000, for performance/salary, this year expected to be £1.3 million, how the hell can they get that when YW has one of the worst records for sewerage and pollution??.
So they can find money to invest in ways to make you pay more but not to improve the water infrastructure? Fantastic ain’t it?
But no infrastructure planning had ever envisaged MILLIONS OF THIRD WORLD INVADERS swarming into these islands in only a few years, bringing all their demands for water, sewage, schools, cars and large tracts of land for mosques and separate burial grounds for their millions of dead.
Fair point, a self made problem as ever
A very good point!
The same principle of price rises for gas and electricity in times high demand via smart meters are next perhaps.
I’ve spent some time working for Anglian water (only short term) and yes there’s been mismanagement, especially Thames water. However the biggest mismanagement is by the government by not over ruling planning objections to build the necessary infrastructure… Rusty complains there’s been no new reservoirs (last one was about 1991 off the top of my head). There’s been multiple attempts by different water companies but planning objections repeatedly stop them… Everyone say they want the infrastructure, just noone wants it near them… Remember all the new houses built on flood plains and people turning gardens to driveways reduces natural storage and increases run off… Also (because some don’t seem to realise this) the biggest cause of pollution in this country was the decision (the best part of 200 years ago when we installed our sewage system) to combine surface run off with foul water. This is different to virtually every other country and means that short of reinstalling our entire network to separate them which would take years, cost hundreds of billions and cause years of inconvenience when we get heavy rainfall and the treatment stations can’t cope we either release it untreated or it backs up (both surface run… Read more »
Whenever we hear Water Co X fined for polluting rivers and beaches with raw sewage it is never explained, as you have, why this happens. Do people think the companies do it deliberately because they like paying fines and getting a poor reputation? Do people think at all anymore in this Country, or is capture by the State so complete the ability to think or expectation to have to think for oneself are completely vanished? Let the State do my thinking. “Everyone say they want the infrastructure, just noone wants it near them…” I don’t think that’s the whole story. It’s the environmentalist loonies, including many on councils, who use the planning process to stop just about anybody trying to build anything anywhere to protect the environment or to save some plant or animal. HS2 delayed and ultimately allowed to proceed after a 900metre long, £125 million bat-tunnel had been built to prevent high speed trains colliding with an endangered species of bat; Hinckley Point C nuclear power station delayed over fears fish would be sucked into the water intakes for reactor cooling – £££millions spent on surveys, studies and finally an underwater system to scare fish away. The problem… Read more »
Perhaps from a shareholder’s perspective, having to pay the odd fine is an acceptable risk compared with investments that offer poor value. Not that they will admit that openly.
When I was young I was taken to an open day at the local sewage farm in Beddington, Croydon. When it came to storm surges they had 2 large concrete holding tanks that were there to hold the excess until the treatment works could process it. Google earth the site now and the 2 tanks have gone.
Perhaps reached the end of their life and were unable to replace for planning reasons?
Thank you for your excellent post. I hadn’t appreciated that we are unusual in having combined surface run off and foul. It now makes sense why we have so many problems with sewage discharge into rivers and the sea.
Too many people don’t and for obvious reasons the media continues ignore it
Originally we did! Bazalgette in London designed exactly this, most of it has long gone. Many areas gat extra capacity by using both sewers for foul water, with obvious results.
A big problem is the amount of underground leaks that are very expensive to locate and mend. I’ve seen figures suggesting that up to a third of water is lost before it reaches consumers. Agriculture (obviously essential) uses a huge amount of water, this is unlikely to come from the mains supply but water taken from rivers or underground aquifers reduces the amount that can be put into the mains supply to households. Once again large companies are going after the easy targets rather than users with the clout of the NFU behind them. The simple answer for people is to refuse to have any smart meters installed.
Regarding agricultural use of water, I notice that automatic crop watering takes place throughout the heat of the day when a significant amount must surely just evaporate in the hot sunshine.
Any gardener will know that watering is most efficient in the cooler evening hours so I am wondering how commercial crops are different.
It is because watering a large area takes a lot of time. Watering 100 ha would typically take 10 hours, evenings are not long enough!
I’m sure I have seen somewhere in the past (but can’t remember where so don’t take as gospel) that there’s an allowance for leakage Vs repair costs so some smaller leaks are deliberately left as the potential repair costs aren’t deemed worth it compared to spending the money elsewhere on the network
Pricing is the best and fairest way to ration scarce resources – all resources are scarce. Increase price = less gets used. Everybody may not get all they want, but we all get some – which is preferable to getting none. How difficult it is for many to grasp that. The alternative to “surge” pricing is either no water or enforced rationing. Many – repeat many – people use copious amounts of water thoughtlessly. When it’s cheap, they don’t have to think. When it’s dear, they have to think about watering the garden, washing the car, leaving taps running, etc. High price rations use. If it were a free market in water/waste management, there would be no Government or quangos intruding, water companies could build infrastructure – more reservoir, more sewer treatment plants, and have the cash to repair/replace 100 year old pipes, fix leaks rather than spending it on meeting the EU’s regulatory requirements. When the priorities of water companies forced on them by Government is clean rivers and clean beaches, preserving wetlands and natural habitats, saving the planet and protecting the environment, then why would anyone expect water companies to concentrate on delivering plenty of water? Of course… Read more »
It’s pretty peverse to make people pay more for water just because they need more water, ie, because the weather is hot. What else are they supposed to do instead? Die of dehydration so that the climate clowns finally get some heatwave deaths?
On a related note, heatpumps for heating in winter are supposedly A Really Really Good Thing™ but the exact same heatpumps, when used for cooling in summer, are supposedly A Really Really Bad Thing™. Say the same ‘environmentalists’. One could almost believe they want people to suffer in summer and winter alike.
Thankful do not have a water smart meter but unfortunately have electric and gas smart meters after moving house.
It’s not just the differential pricing but the potential that smart meters, especially electric smart meter will have the ability to throttle supply when government dictates.
Supplier says the smart meters can be switched to dumb mode. But if that can be done it can be reverse at will.
Would lining the meter box with lead work?
I was forced to have a smart water meter. So, I wrapped it up completely in aluminium foil. Not sure if it is still working or not, hopefully not.
It seems obvious to me that using smart water meters to control our behaviour in hot weather was the real reason they were forced upon us in the first round place.
The EU issued the Water Directive that made water a ‘scarce resource’ to be managed accordingly. This is no doubt why no reservoirs have been constructed while the same morons that came up with it have allowed our population to increase with imported third world scum.
I have a smart water meter, installed primarily to allow the meter reader to drive around without having to open each hole in the pavement, especially when a car is parked on top of it. Unlike gas and electric, there was no choice or consultation. I don’t mind, because in our two person house, consumption is low. I wasn’t aware that it is constantly sending readings like gas and electric. Everyone complains about private water companies, but the original intention was right. Massive investment was required in the eighties (as it was in all the privatised industries, especially water and rail), which the government did not have the borrowing to undertake, so private capital was needed. Overpopulation and poor oversight destroyed a good idea. The real mistake the government made was allowing the companies free access to their resource, which made in house waste cheaper than repair. If they were metered for every gallon leaving a reservoir, bore hole or river, then they would be more interested in preservation of this precious resource. Finally, let’s not forget that not all water companies are private. Some are still state owned and are just as bad when measured on sewerage leakage, poor… Read more »
Let me get this straight. When it’s hot and we need more water, we can’t have any more, but we can have as much electricity from solar as we need to heat our homes. And when it’s wet and cold, we can have as much water as we want to water our garden, but can’t heat our homes ‘cos the sun ain’t shining. Is it just me, or is there a flaw there?
Nope – there’s no flaw in your thinking. That’s the thinking of the deluded commie twat, Mad Ed. We gave that communist-loving family refuge after the war and this is how they repay us…
Yes, repaying us just like Alf Dubs, now “Lord” Dubs, who shed copious crocodile tears in Parliament long before Rachel Reeves, in order to make them pass his bill forcing Britain to accept every hideous bearded Third World illegal immigrant claiming to be a “child”, so they can sit next to your daughters (and sons) in school.
You missed a twist: The electricty that’s plentifully available during summer must not be used to cool anything using the exact same technology that’s supposed to be used to heat it in winter as this would be environmentally evil.
Green ideology decrees that technology must only ever be used to create problems but never to solve them.
Thames Water seem to have a 5 year plan to increase the use of “smart” meters. However, it’s not long since they installed meters almost everywhere. Every house in my street has them now (mine is a lot older, as they were voluntary then). None of those are modern “smart” ones as far as I know – they still send round meter readers a couple of times a year.
There seem to be 2 types of “smart” ones: one that uses Automated Meter Reading (AMR) that still required personnel to drive by and grab the records, and the other is more like “smart” gas meters using remote transmission (Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). You’ll probably get an app on the phone for one of those, like your gas and electric.
Anyway, spot the opportunism to install storage tanks of various types if there’s variable pricing. I guess I already have nearly 100 l of that already – butts that capture rain water from the garage roof for garden watering etc.
Please remember that WATER IS FREE IN SCOTLAND, where it was never privatized or metered, just included as part of the Council Tax. Ditto Northern Ireland. Thanks to Margaret Thatcher, “ENGLAND and WALES became THE ONLY COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD to have a fully privatised water and sewage disposal system.” “One of the earliest proponents for the nationalisation of the water supply and sewerage (WSS) system was Joseph Chamberlain, who argued in 1884 that “It is difficult, if not impossible to combine the citizens’ rights and interests and the private enterprise’s interests, because the private enterprise aims at its natural and justified objective, the biggest possible profit.” Huge water bills in England and Wales are all thanks to Margaret Thatcher: “Until the 1980s, universal provision of drinking water and sewerage services in England and Wales was considered a public health service. The water industry was privatised in 1989, according to the Conservative government’s programme.” “By 1980, investment in the water sector was just one-third of what it had been in 1970. [This was because] Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government, which had been elected in 1979, had CURTAILED THE REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITIES’ ABILITY TO BORROW MONEY THEY DEEMED NECESSARY FOR CAPITAL PROJECTS.”… Read more »
“WATER IS FREE IN SCOTLAND” “Just included as part of council tax”
2 questions,
Do you not see, or are you just ignoring the contradiction in your post?
Do you think it’s fair that an elderly couple in a large home (high council tax) with low usage subside a family with young children, in a smaller home (lower council tax) but far higher usage?
I don’t think it’s fair for English Taxpayers to subsidise Scotland at all.
England has become The World’s Cash Cow.
But water is only one part of Scottish Council Tax bills, and the water is not metered, so your point is not really relevant.
As for subsidising, ever since the Uniparty banned English water companies from cutting off the water to people who refuse to pay anything, including millions of Third World Invaders, they reacted by overcharging reliable, trustworthy paying customers in order to make up the shortfall.
I never mentioned the English…
My point is entirely relevant as as whilst it only being a part it will still be an amount bearing no relation to usage and quite possibly requiring (cash poor) elderly people on low incomes subsidising the unrestricted usage of others…
To answer my own question I think you’re just ignoring it…
As I said, the country was near bankrupt after the disaster of the Labour government in the seventies. There was no ability for the government and parts of the government like water to borrow the massive amounts of money needed for the replacement of Victorian sewerage systems, as was seen across the country in the nineties and more recently in London. Scotland water was a joke for years, criticising the private sector but not even recording the sewage release in their own country. They are doing the monitoring better now and guess what – like the not for profit and the state owned Welsh water, they are no better the private companies.
But as Joseph Chamberlain said a century ago, private companies care only about PROFITS, unlike nationalised utilities providing one of the most fundamental necessities of life.
We all care about peofits: earning wages is profit for you as an individual. Your ultimate profit is your residual income after all your bills are paid. And you invest some
Of that into capital (maybe your mortgage), and savings. Etc.
People need to stop behaving like bloody communists and whining about the private sector which provides all of the conveniences of your modern age. The state just fecks it all up. State meddling (Maggie Thatcher included) has caused our troubles. Just leave us alone and private enterprise peovide what we need and want, directly.
Oh yes, that good old chestnut, profit bad, state owned good, but bizarrely, Welsh Water, not for profit and no shareholders, is some of the most expensive water in the UK, compared to the Severn Trent subsidiary in Wales that is one of the cheapest, go figure. It’s the same with the NHS, where we should absolutely not allow any private involvement, according to the nutters. But what if a private company can offer a treatment for £150 that costs the NHS £200 in house, doesn’t that release £50 per treatment for some other patients, while the private company manages to make a profit, but no way should it be allowed cos it is allowing evil into the sacred cow of government owned services.
I would understand rationing, as in everyone being forced to use less because less is available. But how exactly is charging overusage fixing the scarcity of water?
Will water authorities use surge fines when they put more untreated sewage into the rivers?
Or will they receive higher bonuses?
We are a nation of girlified pansies. We could build more reservoirs and water storage and, even, desalinate seawater. Heaven forbid of course because we have become a cretinous people frightened of the shadows that the stupid, ignorant, communist, vile establishment and recent uni graduates tell us are there.
Shameful nation.
And remigrate and repatriate immigrants
Apart from all the normal issues of control, lack of proper infrastructure and ordinary people having to pay for this, there is the huge issue of lack of INFORMED CONSENT to the wireless network that is required for this. The best scientists (not those with conflicts of interest) tell us that wireless radiation creates severe health damage, both long-term and short-term. Cancer, dementia, infertility & DNA damage are amongst the long-term effects. In 20 minutes Dr Moskovitz explains all of this: https://greensense.podbean.com/e/harmful-wireless-radiation/
In principle, smart meters make economic sense. However, the lower prices (e.g. low usage in the winter) should be much lower!