Water bill 'too expensive' to flush toilet

As someone who has recently been in danger of loosing pretty much everything I had, who is now doing okay(ish) this story is not about a water bill... it is about the mindset of being poor

If you're presenting it as fact then you need to support it, yes.

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My thesis is that such people (and I have been there myself) have to make hard choices. There are pretty well always things that can be readily given up - gambling, smoking, alcohol, expensive recreation, for instance. Cars and phones, I agree, can be problematical.

However, there are agencies that can advise. And it isn't exactly rocket science to protect yourself by reading the meter every week or month.

That is true, but in our current state how else do you suggest people acquire water

Choosing between expensive recreation and bills for example is an easy decision. It becomes harder when it's a decison like which of 2 or 3 things should I prioritise over others.

For example I regularly made the choice not to pay council tax because I couldn't afford that bill and all others and I knew that the council are slower to realise I haven't paid and are more amenable to reorganizing a payment method. That's fine, until something else goes wrong, like the car breaking down and suddenly your struggling just to make up the shortfall.

It's easy to judge people's decisions from the outside because the burden of stress isn't relevant. People in stressful situations make bad decisions. Being poor is stressful. Holding poor people to a standard far above others is both unreasonable and unhelpful.

That's not what's going on in this specific instance, but it doesn't negate the problem the article outlines; among the poorest families water bills are now the most common arrears, witch up to 3 million people struggling with the costs.

Yes in this particular case it was due to a leak, granted, but it's still a significant issue in a wider sense, at least in my view.

Hmmm for the benefit of any onlookers deciding which bill to skip... don't leave that council tax too long... the water company won't send you to jail but the council can.

I'm presenting it as an opinion, which is what the OP asked for. Are you presenting the cost of water as being a significant hard fact cause of debt that outweighs the factors I mentioned? or are you opining? I have seen no evidence about it.

Yup. Buried halfway down the article is:

Last year, her boiler had been leaking into a wall cavity - and the amount of water lost gave her a water bill of £700.
She says her water supplier, Yorkshire Water, showed "goodwill", in writing off £500 of the debt, but she still had to find £200.

How much bloody water has to leak before you run up a bill like that? You'd have thought her house would've collapsed first.

I can't say I've ever had metered water, but I'd have assumed the unit price can hardly be expensive.

I find budgetary problems to be a bit laughable, because no person in this country with a pair of brain cells can fall into debt for basic needs if they don't waste their money. It's simply impossible.

Be it working on the minimum wage or receiving benefits, it's not possible. Adjust your lifestyle, sure. But if a Sky subscription supersedes your needs for water, not sure why it's being pushed onto society as a dilemma.

I would be very open to being convinced otherwise with a clear example of such an individual/household, who is not able to afford basic needs, despite saving on non-necessities and without making stupid prior decisions like taking out a payday loan.

The meter itself could be down an underground hole outside with a lid on it which isn't going to trivial to check - especially for elderly and disabled customers.

How much bloody water has to leak before you run up a bill like that? You'd have thought her house would've collapsed first.

I can't say I've ever had metered water, but I'd have assumed the unit price can hardly be expensive.

It is trivial. The only likely difficulty is kneeling on the floor. The whole process of reading the meter takes about a minute, arthritic rising included.

Does seem like something that a lot of disabled people would have a lot of difficulty with TBH.

Anyone that can hold a screwdriver, kneel and get up again can easily do it. Wheelchair users would have enormous difficulty, I agree. But such a person is likely to have a carer or regular visitor who could do the job once a month. As I said, it takes about one minute.

I'm not sure that's entirely a feasible purchase for someone who can't afford to comfortably pay their water bills as is.

People are trying too hard to find excuses for not being capable of checking a water meter and budgeting for a monthly water bill. They just gotta be victims of injustice somehow!

Even when I was stone broke for about a year (eating oatmeal for most meals) my water bill was probably the smallest of the lot and the one I worried about the least. I could always pay it.

People need to learn to use toilet hippos and to collect rainwater for emergencies. If it's yellow, let it mellow. Recycle grey water. Skip a shower every now and then. Don't leave taps running. Hell, even get it from a river or a brook in an emergency, if you can (not to drink). And most importantly, check your damn meter.