It's not the default. You cannot buy a new house today without being on a meter. That is the default.

It's just our housing stock being so old and decrepit, where nobody can be bothered updating anything even if it's provided for free by the utility companies, that the majority of houses simply do not have a water meter!

There's a general sentiment that smart meters and metered water will make costs skyrocket or somehow hold you ransom to abrupt and unfair price changes, as if that somehow wasn't the case today...

Except in Scotland where your water charge is added to your council tax and so there are no water meters.

I pay £190 per year for unlimited water.