Why is my water bill so high?

If a water bill has gone up noticeably and nothing about how the household uses water has changed, a hidden leak is one of the most likely explanations — and it is worth taking seriously, because a small leak below a floor or behind a wall can run for months before it becomes visible.

A simple check you can do tonight

1. Make sure no taps, the washing machine or dishwasher are running, and nobody flushes a toilet during the test.
2. Find the water meter and note the reading exactly.
3. Wait an hour without using any water in the house, then check the reading again.
4. If it has moved at all, water is being used somewhere, and with nothing running, that points to a leak rather than normal use.

Where leaks like this usually hide

Underfloor pipework, a pipe inside a wall cavity, or a supply pipe running underground between the meter and the house are the most common places for a leak that never shows up as a wet patch anywhere obvious. Water can travel a surprising distance along a joist or under a floor before it appears, which is why the visible sign, if there is one, is often nowhere near the actual source.

How it actually gets found

Rather than lifting floors speculatively, leak detection uses thermal imaging and acoustic listening equipment to trace a hidden leak to roughly where it is before anything gets opened up. That turns "the bill keeps rising and nobody knows why" into a specific pipe run and a specific repair, rather than a guessing game that damages more of the house than the leak itself has.

Once a leak is found, our leak repair service puts it right, and a dripping tap or a toilet that keeps running is usually a quick general plumbing job. Water coming through a ceiling is more urgent: see water through the ceiling for what to do straight away.