Your Gold Coast water bill issued by the City of Gold Coast as a Water and Sewerage Rate Notice arrives every three months. Currently, every water meter is manually read every three months, with your Gold Coast water bill coming soon after. The cost of Gold Coast water is set every year as part of the budget process with the detailed current water pricing for 2021-22 available from Gold Coast Water.
What are the costs of your Gold Coast water bill?
For most homeowners who use around the average daily water usage of 451 litres, the highest costs in the quarterly Gold Coast water bill are their sewerage and water access service charges. If you look closely at your water bill, you can see that you have the following access charges:
Residential Charges
Cost
Sewerage access charge per quarter
$181.03
Water access charge per quarter
$53.02
Total Access Charges per Quarter
$234.05
The usage charges per kilolitre as measured by your water meter are made up of council charges and Queensland Government charges as below:
Residential Charges
Cost
City of Gold Coast water per kilolitre
$1.117
Queensland Government water per kilolitre
$3.231
Total Cost of Water per Kilolitre
$4.348
In reality, even if you did not use one drop of water, you would still pay for water and sewerage access service charges of $234.05 every quarter or $936.20 every year.
Our experience is that the average water use of 451 litres or 0.451kL per property shown on Gold Coast water bills is not an accurate guide to your water use.
Most homes with more than one occupant will use 1-2 kL every day. However, remember your water usage will vary every day based on the number of occupants at home each day and their water use behaviours. That is why we recommend you read your water meter weekly, as that will give you a better guide about your average consumption and alert you to a potential water leak.
The actual cost of water dripping from a tap
What will cause your water usage charges to blow out is having leaking water that you are unaware of. Leaking taps and toilets are frequently overlooked and put off to another day. A dripping tap that drips one drop every second will use 40 litres of water a day. The reality is that it becomes 280 litres a week and then 1214 litres a month, and then 14560 litres a year. This is all water charged for on your Gold Coast water bill that you never utilised for any practical purpose.
If we translate the litres wasted to the cost of water, then the numbers become real very quickly.
Cost of a Dripping Tap at 1 drip per second
Residential Cost at $4.348 per kL or 1000 litres
Business Cost at $8.909 per kL or 1000 litres
1.66 litres per hour
$0.007
$0.015
40 litres per day
$0.174
$0.356
280 litres per week
$1.217
$2.495
1214 litres per month
$5.278
$10.816
14560 litres per year
$63.307
$129.715
The actual cost of a leaking underground water main
You can visually see a dripping tap or running toilet, but the real killer to your Gold Coast water bill is your underground water main pipe leaking. For residential users, these are usually leaking polypipe water mains that were never installed correctly when the house was built. Only occasionally is a water leak apparent and bubbling to the ground. Most of the time, they are a silent Gold Coast water bill killer leaking 24/7 undetected.
There is no accurate average for any leaking water main supply pipe because it depends on the type of break in the pipe, what the pipe size is and what the incoming water pressure is.
Recently we had a client with a small leak where we have 24/7 electronic water monitoring installed that is leaking on average of 45 litres per hour, so we use that as a basis for what leaking water main will cost on a Gold Coast water bill.
Cost of a leaking underground water main at 45 litres per hour
Residential Cost at $4.348 per kL or 1000 litres
Business Cost at $8.909 per kL or 1000 litres
45 litres per hour
$0.196
$0.401
1080 litres per day
$4.696
$9.622
7560 litres per week
$32.87
$67.352
33480 litres per month
$145.57
$298.731
401760 litres per year
$1746.85
$3579.280
A water leak at 45 litres per minute is only a relatively small leak in larger pipes. It is unlikely to show up as bubbling at the ground unless it is directly under the grass in a shallow trench. Even looking at your water meter, it will not be evident unless you are testing your water use at the meter by checking for a water leak.
How much does a leak cost per litre?
We have always recommended that you test your water usage through your water meter every month. By having comparable figures, you will soon ascertain whether you have a leaking pipe.
We have always recommended that you install an AquaTrip water leak detection system after your water meter. An AquaTrip Water Leak detection system with an integrated automatic shutoff valve supplied and installed by Whywait Plumbing is a permanently installed leak detection protection system that quietly protects against leaks 24/7. It is a one time only insurance payment.
With our modern leak detection methods, it’s an easier task to locate a leak. However, unless you have an AquaTrip installed or use our 24/7 water monitoring service, you will still pay for a large amount of lost water before you become aware of the water leak.
If you think you have a water leak contact us because every litre that you lose is costing you $0.004348 for residential properties or $0.008909 for businesses on your Gold Coast water bill. If you naively feel that is inconsequential, we have just rectified a leak for a commercial business client in a 50mm underground polypipe water main that was leaking 106 kL every day, which is 106000 litres every 24 hours. This leak cost $944.354 every day.
Your Gold Coast water bill issued by the City of Gold Coast as a Water and Sewerage Rate Notice arrives every three months. Currently, every water meter is manually read every three months with your Gold Coast water bill coming soon after. The cost of water is set every year as part of the budget process with the detailed current water pricing for 2020-21 available from Gold Coast Water.
What are the costs on your Gold Coast water bill?
For most homeowners who use around the average daily water usage of 451 litres, the highest costs in the quarterly Gold Coast water bill are their sewerage and water access service charges. If you look closely at your water bill you can see that you have the following access charges:
Residential Charges
Cost
Sewerage access charge per quarter
$181.03
Water access charge per quarter
$53.02
Total Access Charges per Quarter
$234.05
The usage charges per kilolitre as measured by your water meter are made up of council charges and Queensland Government charges as below:
Residential Charges
Cost
City of Gold Coast water per kilolitre
$1.090
Queensland Government water per kilolitre
$3.122
Total Cost of Water per Kilolitre
$4.212
In reality, even if you did not use one drop of water, you would still pay for water and sewerage access service charges of $234.05 every quarter or $936.20 every year.
In our experience, the average water use of 451 litres or 0.451kL per property is not an accurate guide to your water use. Most homes with more than one occupant will use 1-2 kL every day. Remember your water usage will vary every day based on the number of occupants at home each day, and their water use behaviours. That is why we recommend you read your water meter weekly as that will give you a better guide about your average consumption but will also alert you to a potential water leak.
The real cost of water dripping from a tap
What will cause your usage charges to blow out is having leaking water. Leaking taps and toilets are frequently overlooked and put off to another day. A dripping tap that drips one drop every second will use 40 litres of water a day. The reality is that it becomes 280 litres a week and then 1214 litres a month and then 14560 litres a year. This is all water charged for on your Gold Coast water bill that you never utilised for any useful purpose.
If we translate the litres wasted to the cost of water, then the numbers become real.
Cost of a Dripping Tap at 1 drip per second
Residential Cost at $4.212 per kL or 1000 litres
Business Cost at $8.662 per kL or 1000 litres
1.66 litres per hour
$0.007
$0.014
40 litres per day
$0.169
$0.347
280 litres per week
$1.180
$2.425
1214 litres per month
$5.114
$10.516
14560 litres per year
$61.327
$126.119
The real cost of a leaking underground water main
A dripping tap or running toilet you can visually sight but the real killer to your Gold Coast water bill is your underground water main pipe leaking. For residential users, these are usually leaking polypipe water mains that were never installed correctly when the house was built. Only occasionally is a water leak apparent and bubbling to the ground. Most of the time they are a silent Gold Coast water bill killer leaking 24/7 undetected.
There is no real average for any leaking water main because it depends on the type of break in the pipe and what the incoming water pressure is. Currently, we have a small leak where we have water monitoring installed that is leaking on average of 44 litres per hour, so we use that as a basis for what a leaking water main will cost on a Gold Coast water bill.
Cost of a leaking underground water main at 44 litres per hour
Residential Cost at $4.212 per kL or 1000 litres
Business Cost at $8.662 per kL or 1000 litres
44 litres per hour
$0.185
$0.381
528 litres per day
$2.223
$4.574
3696 litres per week
$15.568
$32.015
16016 litres per month
$67.459
$138.731
192192 litres per year
$809.513
$1664.767
A leak at 44 litres per minute is only a small leak. It is highly unlikely to show up bubbling to the ground unless it is directly under the grass in a shallow trench. Even looking at your water meter, it will not be evident unless you are testing your water use at the meter by checking for a water leak.
How much does a leak cost per litre
We have always recommended that you test your water usage through your water meter every month. By having comparable figures, you will soon ascertain whether you have a leaking pipe.
We have always recommended that you install an AquaTrip water leak detection system after your water meter. An AquaTrip Water Leak detection system with an integrated automatic shutoff valve supplied and installed by Whywait Plumbing is a permanently installed leak detection protection system that quietly protects against leaks 24/7. It is a one time only insurance payment.
With our modern leak detection methods, it’s a much easier job to find a leak but unless you have an AquaTrip installed or use our water monitoring service you will still pay for a lot of lost water before you become aware of the leak.
If you think you have a leak contact us because every litre that you lose is costing you $0.004212 for residential properties or $0.008662 for businesses on your Gold Coast water bill. If you believe that is inconsequential, we have just rectified a leak for a business client that was in a 40mm underground pipe that was leaking 96 kL every day, which is 96000 litres every 24 hours. This leak was costing $831.55 every day.
This Christmas I can guarantee that burst plastic water reticulation pipes or burst flexi hoses will create more emotional stress and insurance claims than fires and burglaries combined.
How to avoid house flooding is becoming more challenging as we continually add more and more water connections inside our homes. Insurance companies are experiencing year on year increases in ever-increasing water damage insurance claims. The average insurance claim from internal water damage flooding has increased from $17627 in 2014 to $30361 in 2018.
A collapsed ceiling from a water deluge above caused by a burst pipe
If you are going away on holiday this Christmas and New Year holiday season and leaving your home empty then I only have one recommendation. And that is before you drive off walk over to your water meter box and turn off the water supply.
How to avoid house flooding is simple if you turn your water off at the council water meter. By undertaking this simple task I can 100% guarantee you will not arrive home to a flooded house caused by a burst water pipe.
I’ve written frequently over the last 10 years about the issues we see every week with homes getting flooded. We’ve witnessed an ever-increasing amount of homes having plastic water pipes and flexi hoses being installed. In turn, we have seen an ever-increasing number of burst flexi hoses and split plastic pipes flooding homes.
In all likelihood even if you have copper water pipes you will still have multiple flexi hoses in your home. They will exist commonly in both residential and commercial buildings under the kitchen sink, under the bathroom vanity basins, under the toilet cistern and under the laundry tub.
Every flexi hose is potentially a ticking time bomb. It has become so common that we attend to burst flexi hoses every day. In 1 hour a burst flexi hose can discharge 1500 litres of water so in 1 day that could be 36000 litres of water. We’ve all experienced how far a spilt glass of water runs on a floor so imagine how far 108000 glasses of water will run.
We have multiple solutions available to prevent flooding in your home ranging from AquaTrip valves at the boundary that turns the water off automatically to individual auto shut off valves for flexi hoses.
If you have any concerns about your water pipes, flexi hoses, fridge connections or valves in your home and don’t want to have one of our plumbers spending part of Christmas Day with you then call us today.
In 2019 as we have done so for the last 43 years we will continue to provide full plumbing, drainage and gasfitting services every day up to and right through the upcoming Christmas holiday and 2020 New Year holiday period.
Public holiday diagnostic fees will apply to all call outs on those days except for Whywait Service Partners.
I’m always mindful that Christmas greetings can become superficial but even so everyone here at Whywait Plumbing Services wishes you and your family a Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2020. Remember the best of gifts around your Christmas tree on 25 December in the presence of a happy family with a toilet that flushes and a tap that turns off.
Most property owners on the Gold Coast have just received their City of Gold Coast Water and Sewerage Rate Notice for January. Under Queensland law, you must receive a quarterly water bill. The City of Gold Coast issues their water bills in January, April, July and October.
Whenever water bills arrive, we get clients asking us why their Gold Coast water bill is always out of date. From experience, we can guarantee the average Gold Coast Water bill is still out of date. For example, most water bills issued in January were for water that was used between July and October. This is due to the contractors who read each water meter having set routes and timelines to read your meter so yes your usage charges are always at least two months out of date. This is why we suggest you monitor your water meter weekly and read how to do it on our page “How To Read Your Water Meter”.
For most homeowners who use around the average daily water usage of 451 litres, the highest costs in the quarterly water bill are their sewerage and water services charges. If you look closely at your water bill you can see that you have the following charges:
Sewerage service charges – sewerage access $181.03 per quarter
Water service charges – water access $53.02 per quarter
Gold Coast Water – water usage per kilolitre $1.09
Queensland Government – water usage per kilolitre $2.91
In reality, even if you used no water, you would still pay for service charges of $234.05 every quarter or $936.20 every year.
Average water use of 451 litres or 0.451kL per property is not an accurate guide to your water use. In our experience, most homes with more than one occupant will use 1-2 kL every day. Remember your water usage will vary every day based on the number of occupants at home each day and their water use behaviours. That is why we recommend you read your water meter weekly as that will give you a better guide about your average consumption but will also alert you to a potential water leak.
If you suspect a water leak, call Whywait Plumbing and ask for our leak detection service.
Increases continue for average Gold Coast water bill in 2014
The average Gold Coast water bill continues to increase. Did you know another water bill will arrive soon, in October despite the fact you have not yet received your six-monthly water account for the first half of 2014?
Due to legislative changes as from 1 July 2014, your water account will be issued quarterly, usually in July, October, January and April of each year.
The rationale behind this law change is that quarterly bills will assist in monitoring your water usage plus the bills will not be as large as they have been previously when bills only came out every six months.
Tugun Desalination Plant that was constructed entirely from borrowed money that we repay for now in our water bills even though it only operates in “hot standby” mode when there is a critical supply emergency
For most clients of Whywait Plumbing that means you will be getting another bill from Gold Coast Water or Logan Water in October, albeit only about half of the one you will receive for the first six months of 2014.
Many of us remember when water was virtually free on the Gold Coast and the only time you got charged for it was if you used excess water over and above the very generous allowance that was paid for as part of your council rates.
The reality of today is that water is expensive. The only guarantee anyone can give you on the cost of water is that it will continually increase every year.
For Gold Coast and Logan residential property owners who use the average water consumption of 250k/L annually your yearly bill on the Gold Coast will be $1887.20 compared to Logan of $1939.60 which is a slight difference of $52.40.
Ultimately we all have to be vigilant in ensuring that the integrity of our household water reticulation pipes is maintained at all times because a small water leak left to flow can add up to thousands of dollars in a very short time. This is why Whywait recommend every home should have water leak monitoring installed.
With a water pipe leak, it’s commonly said that prevention is the key. Positive preventive maintenance saves you thousands of dollars in hassles and water damage.
That’s why you want to follow the simple step by step check for a water pipe leak. This will prevent the hassles before they hit you where it hurts most – in your pocket!
At Whywait Plumbing, we have always preached that preventative maintenance policies and procedures will prevent many of the significant cost blowouts in plumbing maintenance.
As always, prevention on checking for a water leak is the best solution. An underground concealed water pipe leak is often impossible to see or hear. More so if your home is on sandy soil or has lots of garden vegetation.
The simplest way to check if you have a concealed water pipe leak is to follow the how-to steps below:
Step 1 – Check your taps
Check all taps both inside the house and outside the house are not dripping.
Step 2 – Check your toilets
Check the toilet cisterns are not overflowing or running into the toilet bowl by tipping a few drops of food dye into the cistern and if there is no colouring of the water in the toilet bowl you know there is no leak.
Step 3 – Turn the taps off
Turn off all the taps that you normally leave turned on, such as the washing machine, dishwasher and the toilet cisterns.
Step 4 – Check your water meter
At the council water meter check the meter is not turning and write down the figures on the meter dial.
Step 5 – Wait 15 minutes
After 15 minutes recheck the water meter and write down the figures on the meter dial again.
Step 6 – Compare water meter readings
Compare the figures you have written down, and if the numbers have not changed at all, then you have no water pipe leak. If the numbers have changed very slightly repeat the test but do it for at least 1 hour.
Step 7 – Turn the taps back on
If you are satisfied there are no leaks remember to turn back on the taps you turned off at the washing machine, dishwasher and toilet cisterns.
Step 8 – When to call a plumber
If the meter dial reading on the water meter has changed after 1 hour then in all likelihood you have an underground concealed water pipe leak, and you need to give Whywait a call to organise leak detection.
Step 9 – When your good to go
If the meter dial reading has not changed, that means your underground water reticulation piping is in good condition.
Prevention is the key
No matter what your results in the above step by step preventative maintenance suggestions, we recommend you repeat it monthly. We also recommend you record your water meter readings every month as any change in water use patterns will quickly indicate a possible leak.
As a rule of thumb, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for any water leak after the council water meter that is on your property. Therefore we recommend that you at least check your water meter reading every month and seriously consider the installation of an AquaTrip water pipe leak detection and control system.
Your Gold Coast water bill issued by the City of Gold Coast as a Water and Sewerage Rate Notice arrives every three months. Currently, every water meter is manually read every three months with your Gold Coast water bill coming soon after. The cost of water is set every year as part of the budget process with the detailed current water pricing for 2020-21 available from 
Whenever water bills arrive, we get clients asking us why their Gold Coast water bill is always out of date. From experience, we can guarantee the average Gold Coast Water bill is still out of date. For example, most water bills issued in January were for water that was used between July and October. This is due to the contractors who read each water meter having set routes and timelines to read your meter so yes your usage charges are always at least two months out of date. This is why we suggest you monitor your water meter weekly and read how to do it on our page 
Turn off all the taps that you normally leave turned on, such as the washing machine, dishwasher and the toilet cisterns.
If the meter dial reading on the water meter has changed after 1 hour then in all likelihood you have an underground concealed water pipe leak, and you need to give 