Saving money on the cost of a cuppa! - Water and Energy

Cut your bills instead!

THE CONSUMER COUNCIL FOR WATER is encouraging customers to take five minutes to make sure that bills for water and sewerage services are not more than they should be.

In a current campaign, the Consumer Council, which aims to represents water and sewerage consumers in England and Wales, is advising people to read through their water bill carefully for information on ways to save. For example, if you have a soakaway which drains rainwater into the ground rather than into the public sewerage system, you can apply to your local sewerage company to have surface water drainage charges removed. This could typically save around £30 each year. If you have a septic tank you should not be paying sewerage charges.


It may also be worth taking time to visit the Consumer Council for Water’s website, www.ccwater.org.uk, to see if money can be saved by having a water meter fitted. The water meter bill calculator on the website can help you work out how much you might pay on a metered charge.

AGE UK, in a separate campaign working with power company E.ON, has released information to help people become more energy aware, especially as winter sets in. They have produced an Energy Menu which details the costs of carrying out everyday activities in the home and a "100 Ways to Save" leaflet.

Quick energy saving tips include:

• It cost 10p to take a bath and just 5p to take a shower - a shower is cheaper every time;
• A washing machine costs 14p to run a load and a tumble dryer costs as much as 52p a cycle - Try hanging clothes outside if you can;
• It costs about 2p to boil a kettle, but limescale makes your kettle work harder so de-scale your electric kettle regularly.

Find out more at AgeUK - Do you know the cost of a cuppa?