Frequently asked questions about your annual bill
Most of our household customers will see a fall in their typical water and wastewater bills of an average of 0.6%.
The reduction is due to penalties we incurred for supply interruptions and leakage during previous years.
The “Average Household Bill” for 2024-25 will be £701, a reduction of £2.00 approximately. This is an average amount and can vary.
Your annual bill is calculated using a rating system called Rateable Value (RV). Before 1990, all properties were given a specific RV by your local council.
At the time, RVs were made up of several things such as the size, condition, and location of your home.
We used your property RV as a way of calculating your unmeasured water charges. As we didn’t set your rateable value, we aren’t able to change it.
You may benefit from having a meter fitted, if you click here to find out more.
If you are struggling to pay we may be able to support you with our social tariffs, click here to find out more.
As RV’s were set for each property individually, there will be times where you’ll find you’re paying more, or less, than your neighbours even though your properties are very similar.
Some properties may have a water meter or the customer maybe on a tariff which means their bill will be different.
Unfortunately, neither we, or your local council, will have any details about how your property was assessed. RVs were stopped in 1990 (because of the introduction of Council Tax), which meant they were no longer re-assessed or given to any new properties that were built after 1990.
Because RVs are no longer re-assessed, they cannot be changed. Most water companies in the UK use this way of charging for customers who don’t have a water meter and is approved by Ofwat, the regulator for the water industry.
There are other options available to lower your water bill (depending on your individual circumstances).
If you live alone, don’t use much water, or looking to reduce your bill, you might save money by having a water meter installed. Click here to find out more.
If you are having trouble affording your bill, please don’t ignore it, we have several ways we may be able to help and make your bills more affordable. Click here to find out more.
Our not-for-profit status means we exist to invest in, and benefit, our customers. We believe it’s a better way of working and ensures any “profit” we make is reinvested back into the business, rather than to benefit shareholders like in other businesses.
However, we own a big network of sewers – 36,000km (enough to stretch to Australia and back) – and drinking water network, so we have to charge for supplying water and wastewater services to make sure we can invest to provide the best-quality services we can.
If you are having trouble affording to pay your bill, please don’t suffer in silence – talk to us. We know life can be stressful, unpredictable, and personal circumstance can change very quickly. We may be able to help you and offer financial support.
You can also set up a payment plan and pay weekly, fortnightly or month, click here to find out more.
You can pay by instalments weekly, fortnightly or monthly, rather than paying in full when you receive your bill. Most of our customers prefer to pay by Direct Debit as it spreads the cost without charge, the payments are taken automatically, and it's covered by our Direct Debit guarantee. Alternatively you can set up a payment card if a direct debit isn't for you.
We do not offer discounts, we bill on a fixed rate for your property, if you are a single person living alone you might benefit from having a water meter and you can spread to cost of your bill by paying weekly or month by direct debit or payment card.
Yes, you can pay weekly direct from your bank account by setting up a direct debit or you can request a payment card and pay either weekly or fortnightly.
We are a non-shareholder company which means profits are reinvested directly to deliver improved services for customers.
We’ll invest in our networks. We operate around 27,500km of water mains and over 36,000km of wastewater pipes. Operating and maintaining such a big network is costly - it would cost £30 billion if we were to build it our wastewater network from scratch!