THE Consumer Council for Water has welcomed Thames Water's decision to introduce a fairer system of charging that applies only to customers who have requested a water meter but are unable to have one installed.

Metered customers pay for the water they use and switching to a meter benefits small households and those with comparatively low water use.

Anyone can ask for a water meter to be installed free of charge but some properties are unable to be metered for a number of reasons, such as having shared pipes.

Karen Gibbs, policy manager for the Consumer Council for Water said: "We welcome the changes because they are more likely to reflect a household's water usage and have encouraged Thames to adopt this method of charging.

"We would encourage customers who applied for a water meter in the past to contact Thames to see if the new charging system will benefit them."

The new tiered charging approach means that those customers who wanted to go to a meter because they would have saved money by doing so will now be offered the option of paying an amount that is more closely linked to their likely water use.