Reading your water meter is the important first step that we take to calculate and issue your quarterly nib.

The day our meter readers have a reading of your meter marks the end of one billing period and the start of the next.

The 4 steps below show how we event your bill every quarter:

Step 1: Reading your water meter

Unitywater engages contractors to read your h2o meter. They acquit identification cards and habiliment high-visibility uniforms.

Nosotros read your meter every iii months (quarterly), then transport your neb a few days afterward. To ensure that nosotros pecker yous correctly, please make it like shooting fish in a barrel for our meter readers to admission your meter by clearing whatsoever overgrown grass, shrubs or other obstructions.

Step 2: Leaving a reading notice

We leave a Water Meter Reading Notice (PDF) in your letterbox that shows the date it was read and the meter reading. Nosotros use the black numbers on your water meter (kilolitres only) when taking the reading, and the meter reader writes this number on the notice.

We recommend you read your water meter to ostend the reading printed on the notice and on your next beak. If they are not the same, delight contact the states.

Stride 3: Doing an in-house check

Your meter reading is put through a strict in-field and in-house inspect to check it against your previous meter readings. If the reading seems too loftier or too low, compared with previous readings, nosotros may reschedule a second reading to double cheque it is correct.

Pace 4: Calculating your water usage

Your water usage is calculated past deducting your previous reading from your electric current reading then you pay only for the h2o you use. This is shown on the second page of your bill. The other charges on your nib are calculated and your bill is sent to you lot, usually inside vii days of your meter reading.

How to monitor your own water usage and detect hidden leaks early

  • Regularly read and cheque your ain water meter. Nosotros recommend every ii weeks when you lot have your bins out.
  • Write downward the meter reading in kilolitres (black numbers just).
  • Enter your meter reading online at My Usage Tracker which is bachelor online at My Business relationship.
  • Any sudden increases in h2o usage could bespeak a hidden leak. If you have whatsoever concerns that there may be h2o leaking, either before or after the meter, delight read more than about checking for leaks.

Delight note: unusually spinning numbers on your water meter (when you aren't using any h2o inside your property) could besides indicate a potential hidden leak.

As the holding possessor, you are responsible for monitoring and maintaining all of the plumbing pipework and fittings on your private property (including the pipe running from the h2o meter to your residence, and any internal plumbing within your residence). If a leak occurs in any pipe on your holding, yous are responsible for having the leak fixed and for the cost of the water.

Dissimilar types of water meters

In that location are different types of h2o meters across the Unitywater region. The black numbers on your water meter represent kilolitres (kL). I kilolitre (kL) equals 1000 litres (L). We use the black numbers to calculate the water usage on your bill. Beneath are some examples of common water meters:

Itron water meterItron water meterGVT water meter

Elster V100 water meter Itron water meter Itron TD8 5 punch h2o meter GVT water meter

Meter reading FAQs

Your meter is normally institute out the front of your residence, near the front end border of your property. It could exist inside a meter box or information technology may exist above basis.

The black numbers on your h2o meter correspond kilolitres (kL). I kilolitre (kL) equals g litres (L). This is the unit of measurement of measurement our meter readers record equally your meter reading. We then use this reading to calculate your bill. The white numbers on the cerise dials represent litres.

If you alive or work in a unit complex, multiple properties may share 1 main meter with the usage divided between all the units at the property based on a 'belongings share pct' (or lot entitlement). This is brash to us past the Department of Natural Resources and Mines (DNRM) and is detailed on the holding'southward business relationship. Unitywater does non decide this share percentage. If you have any questions, please contact your Body Corporate.

We read your water meter quarterly (i.e. every iii months or roughly 90 days). The number of days betwixt meter reads can differ due to the fact that nosotros may non be able to read your meter on exactly the same dates in each quarter.

This tin can be due to operational reasons or other factors, including bad conditions, locked gates or a domestic dog on your property. This means that the number of days you are charged for your water and sewerage services can vary (ordinarily between 85-95 days), affecting the amount of your bill.

Check the meridian right of your nib, nether the 'Billing menstruum' heading, to see exactly how many days you take been charged for on that detail bill.

Y'all should receive a blue Water Meter Reading Notice (PDF) in your letterbox advising y'all of the date your meter was read and meter reading number.

We recommend yous take a meter reading on the same day you lot receive your H2o Meter Reading Discover to ostend the reading on the notice and on your next beak are the same.

Keeping a record of your own meter readings is ever useful every bit occasionally meter readers are unable to leave a bill of fare due to bad weather, or the notice could get caught up and thrown out in the junk postal service.

You commonly receive yous bill inside a few days of your meter being read, but information technology can take upward to 10 days or sometimes longer if you live in a unit of measurement circuitous. Nosotros need this time to audit all meter readings for accuracy. In this audit process, nosotros compare the new reading with previous readings to ensure it is in line with previous usage patterns – all to make certain we are billing you lot correctly. If the reading seems too loftier or also low, compared with previous readings, nosotros may reschedule a second reading to double check it is correct.

We are unable to notify customers of the exact dates of future meter readings (for case, for tenant billing purposes). Nonetheless, nosotros do suggest an approximate date of the adjacent meter reading. This is found on folio ane of your bill, along with the pecker number and billing menstruum information.

We as well cannot accept keys to properties or gates (to allow meter readers access). Please contact the states on 1300 086 489 if access to your water meter is restricted.

If we were unable to access your meter, nosotros exit a red 'Urgent - Water Meter Not Read' Detect (PDF 26KB) in your letterbox advising you that we will attempt to read your meter a second time in the adjacent few days. If nosotros are unsuccessful in reading your meter again, the water usage on your next nib will be estimated based on previous actual water meter readings.

Unitywater endeavours to read every meter during our scheduled meter reading periods. If nosotros cannot accept a meter read on the scheduled day we will estimate the read.

Estimates are done where:

  • the meter is inaccessible (i.due east. located behind locked gate, dog on premises),

  • the meter is damaged and dials are not readable;

  • the meter has stopped working and is not recording water passing through the meter, and

  • the meter cannot be located.

When nosotros judge it is based on:

  • the property's previous usage design;

  • an bodily meter reading is scheduled for the next billing period and will be obtained where possible. The bill then 'catches up' using the actual read to ensure the client has only been billed for what they take used.

Information technology is possible to install individual water meters, rather than having one main water meter, to existing buildings or unit complexes.

The Body Corporate must utilize on behalf of the owners and all owners must give their consent. The installation will be at the price of the owners or the Body Corporate.

For more than most the process, fact sheets and application forms, delight read the Sub-metering information kit (PDF i.9MB)

Once you are set up to proceed, your plumber can discover all the information they need in the sub-metering for plumbers section.

Note: sub-metering became mandatory for all unit circuitous developments congenital afterward 1 Jan 2008.

Sometimes you lot will receive a Meter Reading Detect and so see that your meter box is full of dirt. Our meter readers can read your meter if the meter box full of dry clay. They just motion the dirt aside so they can read the dials on your meter then put the dirt back into the meter box.

However if the dirt is wet, difficult or compacted and it cannot exist removed by the meter reader, a notice will be left in your letterbox to advise that nosotros couldn't read your meter. Please make sure your meter box is accessible and well maintained, removing whatsoever clay or other obstructions, so we can beak you correctly and on fourth dimension.

Our meter readers practise not get out the removed dirt on your lawn or garden beside the meter, as they are required to go out the area as they found information technology.

During certain times of the year, Australian native bees may colonise Unitywater meter boxes. While these bees provide low risk to yourself and our meter readers, they can impede on our ability to read the meter. If yous have a colony in your meter box, please google and call a Native bee re-locator or removalist to attend and relocate the colony, and so we can help protect the native bee population.

If, however, you have a wasps nest in your meter box, please remove the nest yourself or accept information technology removed by professionals if yous experience more than comfy with this.

Meter reader opening the water meter hat

Meter reader immigration the clay from the meter

Meter reader writing down the reading