I was staggered from listening to a government minister talking on the radio as the latest in an ever growing list of utterly ludicrous and offensive ideas was announced, our great wise leaders are considering placing water meters in every home because of what they say is the dwindling amount of fresh drinking water on the British mainland. i have to say, I'm not happy about that for a few reasons, oh no.
A few years ago i considered having a water meter fitted myself myself, living alone on the 2nd floor i, like millions of others don't actually get through much water, when working properly (which isnt all the time i admit) i only have to heat up the water for an hour twice or three times a week and Ive 24 to 36 hours worth of hot water for all my needs- a quick shower a few times a week with still well enough left over hot water for dishes, mopping, washing etc, in short i use sod all water.
With my low water usage i smugly thought i should get a water meter fitted, when i phoned up the water company and tried to arrange one i actually found myself being put off by the lady on the other end of the phone instead, my usage was so small that actually getting a water meter would be a waste of money. There is a minimum charge regardless of how little water is used, plus i would have to pay to actually rent the meter, there would be regular payments due for its rental, and once fitted they can never be removed again by law, even if it brought the cost of your regular payments up instead of down.
The kind phone lady informed me that it would add a colossal percentage onto my bill and i would get absolutely no benefit from it because i use too little water to matter. They are aimed primarily at combined family usage, With a meter i was told i would still pay around the same for the water as i did previously but i would be paying for the meters rental on top.
If we are all forced to have those meters fitted then we will be forced by law to pay rent on them, this would mean that like me millions of people would see their bills rise without any improvement or change in services.
And as for the minister on radio using the excuse that Morocco has better water systems than us as a reason to force the meters on us, what has that got to do with us? we are in a completely different situation, do they think we wouldn't notice? do they think we wouldn't remember that in Britain millions of gallons of water regularly leak out of long broken and leaking pipes? leaking pipes knowingly ignored for years by those supposedly responsible for their upkeep? or the way the water utility companies only take action when the leaks rise above ground level where we could see them?
Grrrrrr.
How about making the water companies doing a bit more to plug the leaks first, adding an extra financial burden on householders isn't going to plug leaks, fill up any reservoirs or make the clouds rain down, and taking proportionally what gets wasted from the wages of those in charge of the supplies upkeep, im sure we would notice the dripping stop then.
No comments:
Post a Comment