Non-households are usually charged for water and sewerage services on the basis of the amount of water they use, and the amount of wastewater and trade effluent they discard.

Water

If you have a meter you will pay for your water through a standing charge (which depends on the size of your meter) and a volumetric rate. For smaller non-households, the volumetric rate is the same as that for households.

If you do not have a water meter you will be charged in the same way as unmetered household customers. Your bill is not based on how much water you use but is usually made up of a fixed charge (the ‘standing charge’) and a charge related to the rateable value of your property. The fixed charge covers things like billing and customer service costs.

Sewerage

Sewerage services have four main activities, which are for collecting and treating:

• foul sewage
• surface water drainage
• highway drainage
• trade effluent

Charges for foul sewage and trade effluent are based on the amount (and strength for trade effluent) discharged. Companies currently have different approaches to charging for surface water drainage and highway drainage.

If you can demonstrate that you do not receive any of these services apart from highway drainage you should be entitled to a reduction in charges.

How your charges are regulated

Charges for customers who use less than 50 Ml (250 Ml in Wales) are subject to price limits, which we set.

Charges for customers who use more than 50 Ml water (250 Ml in Wales) are not subject to price limits. However, we check the difference between charges for large users and households to make sure that they are neither be unduly preferential nor discriminatory to large-users.

Customers in eligible premises can choose to purchase water from either their existing water supplier, or from one of a number of water supply licensees. Find out more about arrangements for competition.

Further information

Find out more about specific types of non-household charges:

• Standard non-household charges for water
• Large and intermediate users
• Charges for non-potable water
• Sewerage charges
• Trade effluent charges
• Infrastructure charges
• Non-standard charges
• Self-lay and connection charges