Your water meter measures the amount of water that enters your property in litres and kilolitres. A kilolitre is one thousand litres. We work out how much to charge you for water usage by reading your water meter approximately every three months.
Why Read Your Meter?
If the meter on your property is not accessible to our meter reader, they may leave behind a card for you to complete. If this happens, please read your meter, fill in the details on the card, and return the reply paid card to the address stated. Alternatively, you can call the number stated on the card and provide the reading over the telephone.
You may also like to read your water meter to see how much water you use during a day or week, or to confirm that the latest meter reading that appears on your bill is accurate.
You can also read your water meter if you think there may be a leak somewhere on your property (see information below on 'Overnight Test').
How To Read Your Meter
Your meter should have a number engraved on the metal on top of it. This is the registration number of your meter, which we use to identify your meter.
There should also be a row of up to 8 or 9 figures on a white background behind glass on your meter. Some numbers will be in black, some in red. The red numbers show your water consumption in litres, whilst the black numbers record the kilolitres. Only kilolitres are used to calculate your bill.
The black numbers (kilolitres) are the ones that will be shown on the back of your bill. Compare the black numbers on your meter to those on the back of your bill to check if your water usage charges are accurate.
Turning off the water supply to your home
There should be a tap on the street-side of your meter that controls the flow of water to your meter. This tap can be turned off to cut water supply to your property when plumbing works need to be completed.
Overnight Test
If your water bill unexpectedly increases but your water usage patterns have not changed, it may mean that you have a leak.
An overnight test will help you determine whether or not you do have a leak.
The numbers on your meter should not move if you are not using water. If they do move while you are not using water, this is a strong indication that there is a leak somewhere on your property.
Some leaks may be slow and movement of the numbers on your meter may not be apparent. You may need to test for leakage over a long period (overnight).
To complete an overnight test, follow these instructions:
- Read your water meter after you have finished using water for the night. Record both the red and black numbers.
- Avoid using any water, such as flushing the toilet, overnight.
- Read your meter again first thing in the morning. Read both the red and black numbers.
If any of the numbers (red or black) have moved overnight, and you have not used any water, then this indicates that there is a leak at your property.
If You Have a Leak
If you have completed the overnight test and feel that you may have a leak, please contact a licensed plumber to locate and repair the leak for you.
We recommend that you call a plumber as soon as you have discovered that you have a leak. This will save you money and reduce water wastage.
Once the leak has been fixed, you can forward us your receipt for the plumbing work and we may be able to make some adjustment to your volume charges.
Testing Your Meter
If you have ruled out all other possibilities for higher than usual water consumption charges, and have confirmed that there are no leaks at your property, you can apply to have your water meter tested.
Depending on the size of your meter, a meter test fee will be payable. Once paid, we will remove your meter and replace it with a new one on your property. Your old meter will then be taken away and put through a number of tests to measure its accuracy.
If your meter is found to be within a 2% accuracy range, then it will be deemed to be accurate and there will be no adjustment to the volume charges that you were billed.
If your meter is found to be over registering by more than 2%, then the meter test fee will be refunded to you, and some adjustment may be made to the volume charges that you were billed for the period that the meter was deemed to be faulty.