I think we are wasting a lot of water and electricity, but apparently we use a lot less than average. If we don't make sure to send in usage numbers every other week or so, the water and electricity companies send us a bill where they "estimate" how much we have used. Sometimes we get a refund, but more commonly we just get billed 0 until the numbers are correct. One time we got "free" electricity for a year. I'm waiting for the refund for the house we just sold. I think we were 1000 kWh behind schedule, so there will be a nice refund.
In the new house, the water statistics are sent in once a year. Our usage was estimated and billed based on the previous owners and the average for this size of house. Just for fun, we calculated our usage for the first half year. If we keep on paying as scheduled, we'll have covered the water bil for the next 3-4 years before christmas. I called to inform a lady at the municipality, so they could choose to lower the bill or something. She asked me to repeat the numbers, and wanted to know if the house had been empty parts of the year. When I said that we just were careful about water usage, she asked us to send in the numbers so she could recalculate, and asked us to stop paying the rest of the year.