1. Home
  2. Business
  3. Accounts and billing
  4. Is your bill higher than normal

There's often an easy explanation for an increase. Our 4-step checklist will help you find out what might have caused the increase in your bill.

1. Check the billing period

We read your water meter quarterly (i.e. every three months or about 90 days). The number of days between meter reads can differ due to the fact that we may not be able to read your meter on exactly the same dates in each quarter.

This can be due to various reasons, including bad weather, locked gates or property access. This means that the number of days you are charged for your water and sewerage services can vary (usually between 85-95 days), affecting the amount of your bill.

You can check the number of days you have been charged for by looking at the top right of your bill, under the 'Billing period' heading. Take a look to see if the number of days is different to previous bills, as this may explain the change in your bill amount.

Find out more about your bill

2. Check your water usage

The amount of water you use will affect your bill amount. You can check the average number of litres you’ve used during this billing period by checking your average daily usage graph on the front page of your bill.

When comparing your average daily usage to previous bills, it's best to compare it to the same time last year (e.g. compare a summer period with summer last year), as your water use may vary depending on the time of year.

Find out why your usage may be higher

Watch: how to read your meter

3. Check your water meter reading

If you’ve checked steps 1 and 2, and you’re still not sure why your bill is higher, then we recommend checking your water meter. On rare occasions your water meter reading may have been recorded wrongly by the meter reader, or your meter could be faulty.

Check to see if the meter reading on your water meter is relatively close to 'current reading' on page 2 of your most recent bill. If the meter reading on your bill looks like it could be a mistake or you're not sure, please contact us.

If you don't know how to read your meter, please watch our short video to the left.

Plus, you can check out our meter reading FAQs to find out more.

4. Check for a leak

On occasions, an increase in your bill could be due to a water leak.

Leaks that are hidden in underground pipes or in faulty plumbing and fixtures (such as leaking toilets) can go undetected for a long time. Some leaks waste more than 2,000 litres of water a day!

That’s why we recommend reading your meter and checking for leaks regularly.

Managing leaks on a property is the owner’s responsibility but we can assist with our easy step-by-step guide to checking for leaks:

Follow our guide to check for leaks
Back to top