How household customers are charged
How it works
As a water and/or sewerage customer, your company will normally charge you in one of three ways. You will pay either:
- unmetered charges, which are usually based on the rateable value of your property
- metered charges, which are based on the amount of water you use (recorded on a water meter)
- assessed charges, which are based an approximation of how much water you might use if you were on a meter
The amount you pay for your water and sewerage services each year will depend on where you live and how your water company charges you.
If you receive your water service and your sewerage service from different suppliers you may receive two bills – one from each company.
If your property is empty you may still have to pay charges for vacant properties.
There are also charges for specific non-standard services where these services are requested by individual customers.
Terms and conditions
Each water company’s charges and terms and conditions are set out in its charges scheme. We approve the companies’ charges schemes each year. You can ask your company for a copy of its scheme or view it on its website.
If you believe you have not been charged in accordance with the terms and conditions in the company’s charges scheme you should contact your regional Consumer Council for Water office for advice.
Our role
Your water or sewerage company cannot charge you what it likes. We set price limits on what your company can charge you. We approve companies’ charges each year to check they stick to the limits we set and meet certain other conditions. We also check each company’s charges schemes treat customers fairly.
