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Related documents
- Surface water drainage charges: the current position
- Why do I have to pay surface water drainge?
- Why is this the best system of charging?
- How does it affect community organisations?
- Common misconceptions
- What is the latest situation with surface water drainage charging and United Utilities?
- Surface water drainage charges: Information for non-household customers
What you can do to reduce your surface water drainage charge
We understand that the immediate concern for any customer who has seen charges rise is what they can do to reduce their bills. Key things you can do include:
1. Checking your water company's estimate of the site area is correct
Contact your water company – you will find details of how to do this on your bill. Companies who charge SWD by site area will have made an estimate of the site area, but this estimate may be incorrect.
If you believe there has been a miscalculation, you should contact your water company for a review. You may be in the wrong charging band and your charges may be too high.
2. Checking your water company's estimate of chargeable site area is correct
Contact your water company. They may also have not taken account of site area where natural drainage occurs. You should only be charged for SWD for areas which, directly or indirectly, drain into public sewers.
Therefore, areas which drain naturally, such as sports fields or gravel car parks should not be included in the chargeable site area. Again if you believe that such areas have not been taken into consideration, you should contact your water company for a review. This could result in significant savings.
3. Taking action to reduce charges
You can also take action to reduce your charges by reducing the amount of surface water on your site that drains into the public sewers. Some of the ways of doing this include:
- Installing a soakaway. In very basic terms, a soakaway is man-made hole in the ground filled with gravel. It collects water and allows it to disperse and drain naturally away. The cost of putting in a small (1m3) soakaway costs in the region of £650.
- Changing impermeable areas to permeable ones. Natural drainage can be promoted by converting areas which do not allow water to soak through, such as an asphalt car park, to ones which do, such as a gravel one.
If you are still having difficulty getting information about SWD charges, please get in touch with your water company. If you have any further queries, please contact the Consumer Council for Water on 0845 039 2837.
