"I truly fail to see why metering water supply is ‘unconscionable’ - you don’t expect your gas to be supplied for a notional charge based on some airy-fairy ‘value’ placed on your property, so why would you expect water to be supplied on that basis."

Several things. First, a clean and safe water supply is a human right. If water is in short supply you can ban the watering of lawns and the washing of cars. If you have children you must have enough water to keep them and their clothes clean and to feed them. If that means they need more water than you next door, so be it, and, as long as there is a sufficiency of supply, it really doesn't matter. As I said, water is an infinite resource and water has a very low intrinsic monetary value. Gas is a finite and non-renewable resource which must be hard-won from the ground, often in someone else's country, and must be expensively refined and safely transported. Its intrinsic monetary value is high. There is simply no comparison. We must pay for the infrastructure that collects, purifies and delivers water, much of which is actually fairly low-tech, but that's all. How we as a society pay for that infrastructure is a matter for debate. I didn't assert categorically that it should come from rates or taxes, though it strikes me that some graduated method of paying for it according to means would be the fairest way. But if meters are available and you think you can save money by having one, that's great. But they should not be made compulsory. We support families with children via paying for their education and by providing state benefits such as family allowance and free nursery care. I find it odd that anyone should be castigating families who have to use extra water because they have children. And three cars too? Really?