Unmetered charges

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Household unmetered charges

Unmetered households usually pay:

a fixed charge, which includes the customer-related costs of supply (for example, billing); and
a charge related to the rateable value of the customer's property. No new rateable values have been issued since March 1990 because of the change in the basis of local taxation. Most new household properties built after 1990 have water meters.

Our 'Rateable values' information note gives further information.

Unmetered water charges

This table shows the unmetered charges for water. Our leaflet 'Water and sewerage bills 2007-08' (PDF-5Mb) gives more information about average bills.

Unmetered sewerage charges

Companies charge unmetered household customers for three main sewerage services. These are for collecting and treating:

foul sewage;
surface water drainage (run-off from rainwater that falls onto customers' properties); and
highway drainage (run-off from roads and pavements).

In principle, if you can show that you do not receive any of these services apart from highway drainage you should be entitled to an appropriate reduction in charges. For more information contact your water company.

Foul sewerage service

The costs of collecting, treating and disposing of foul sewage depend upon the amount and strength of the wastewater. But companies do not assess the strength of foul sewage for charging purposes.

Most unmetered household customers pay for the foul sewerage service by a charge based on the rateable value of their property. These charges are shown here.

Surface water drainage and highway drainage

Surface water is the water that drains from customers' land into the public sewer network. Unmetered household customers pay for surface water drainage either by:

a fixed fee in the standing charge; or
reference to the rateable value of their property.

Companies also treat water that falls onto the public highways and which drains to the sewers. Highway drainage benefits everyone who uses the road network either directly or indirectly. The costs of this highway drainage service are not related to the amount of water that customers use or to the value or size of their properties, so there is no one correct way of recovering these costs.

Our frequently asked questions give further information on surface water drainage (Word-22Kb) .

Charges and bills

Household Charges

Water meter savings calculator

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Household bill increases in 2008-09

Unmetered charges

Metered charges

Non-household Charges

Standard non-household water tariffs

Large user tariffs for water

Sewerage tariffs

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