Information about meters

You'll usually find your water meter under the kitchen sink where your water supply comes into your home. It could also be in an underground box in the garden, or the footpath outside your property (look for a small round plastic lid).

If your home was built in recent years, the meter may be in a box fitted to the outside wall of your property.

We try to read your water meter every six months, but the date depends on when we are next reading meters in your area. In some properties we have meters that we can read remotely and so those customer may have their meters read every  three months.

All the new meters we fit these days allow us to take readings remotely, which means we won't need to call round in order to take a reading.

If you have an old style meter inside your home you will need to let us in so we can take a reading. We'll post a card through the letterbox if you are not in when we call round.

You can also submit a reading by signing into My Account or via our APP.

If you have just had your meter installed, you'll receive your first bill shortly after we take your first meter reading, which will be within six months of the meter being fitted

If we have estimated your meter reading, you can submit a meter reading online or via our smartphone app. Once you have submitted your new meter reading we will send you a revised bill.

For further information please call our water meter team on 0345 072 6065.

When you move into a home which already has a water meter fitted, you cannot make a request for it to be removed. In short, the law (The Water Industry Act) does not permit the removal of a meter in these circumstances.

Don't forget, we have a range of items you can order for FREE which can help lower your bill by reducing your water usage. 

If you are unlucky enough to discover a leak on either your internal or external pipework, you are entitled to claim for the cost of the water lost during the time you had the leak.

It’s important to point out that you are only able to make one claim for an internal leak and one claim for an external leak at your address. However, if you are unfortunate to have further leaks in the future, and can prove that the lost water has leaked into a watercourse or similar, and not into the public sewer, we may be able to reduce your sewerage charges more than once.

We'll refund the cost of any water lost from a leaking supply pipe, as long as it is the first burst that the pipe has suffered, and it is repaired within 30 days of discovering it. We may also be able to give an allowance against wastewater charges.

If you wish to claim an allowance for a leak, click here to complete our online form.

Remember that you're responsible for maintaining all pipework within the boundary of your property, including the underground supply pipe and all internal pipework, whether you have a water meter or not.

If you need to move your water meter as a result of any home improvements, you need to inform us before doing the work as we need to inspect it afterwards and re-fit the security seal. Our relocating your water meter factsheet (PDF 224 KB opens in a new window) explains what you need to do and includes an application form to complete and return to us.

Yes - you have up to 24 months from the date the meter is fitted to decide if you wish to go back to rateable value charges.

Please contact us on 0345 072 6065 if you need to discuss whether going back to non-metered charges is the right thing for you. 

We will leave the water meter in place though, because if you move home, the new occupiers will be billed using water meter readings.

In some instances we will insist you have a water meter installed, for example if you have a swimming pool or your property has been substantially altered we may need to review how you need to be billed for our services. In these cases we would fit a meter and you would not be eligible to switch back within the normal two year period. Please take a look at our charges scheme for details on when a meter must be installed at a property.

We only started installing smart meters from April 2025, so if your meter was installed before this date, it’s likely that it won’t be smart enabled. However, we’re installing around a million smart meters across the North West by 2030. Our new meters use the latest technology and send readings to us on a regular basis to calculate your bills and help us to identify leaks. As part of our smart meter roll-out, we will also be exchanging a lot of our existing meters. Therefore, we may be in touch with you to exchange your meter in the future. Please bear with us, as it may be some time before we contact you to arrange this.