Household customer charges.

Our charges from 1 April 2017. This year, joint water and wastewater For more information on our charges, charges have remained around the same including those for business customers, Contents for our household customers. This includes please see our ‘Charges schedule’ and inflation, plus costs such as early work on ‘Charges scheme’ for 2017/18. Introduction 3 the Thames Tunnel (see page 13 for more information).

If you don’t have a water meter 4 -10 Customers who only receive wastewater services from us – but are billed through If we couldn’t fit a water meter 11 another water company – will see their wastewater charges reduce slightly. If you have a water meter 11

Thames Tideway Tunnel 13

WaterSure and WaterSure Plus 14

Back-charging and refunds 15

2 3 If you don’t have a water meter Surface water drainage Water Wastewater If you don’t have a water meter fitted at If your property only has surface water Local authority area (Pence) (Pence) your home, we work out your charges by drainage, you don’t have to pay rate- Aylesbury Vale 110.43 77.37 multiplying your properties chargeable based wastewater charges and instead value, by a ‘rate per pound.’ There’s pay a fixed fee of £43.72 a year. Barking & Dagenham 72.15 50.75 one rate for water and one rate for Barnet 78.75 54.30 wastewater. Fixed charges Once we’ve worked out the ‘rate per Basingstoke & Deane 92.69 66.53 The rate per pound for your home will be pound’ charges for water and/or Bexley 80.38 55.04 worked out depending on where you live, wastewater, we then add a fixed charge. which is shown in the tables on pages five This includes the costs of producing bills, Bracknell N/A 66.53 to nine. processing payments, managing debt Brent 72.15 50.75 and answering queries. For wastewater Chargeable values were decided by local customers, it also contributes towards the Brentwood N/A 54.30 authorities, based on their assessment of costs of providing surface water drainage Bromley 80.38 55.04 how much a property could be let for. and highway drainage. Broxbourne 78.75 54.30 They took into account factors including For household customers, the fixed charge Camden 72.15 50.75 the size of a house and its condition, is £32.19 for water services and £53.00 and the availability of services. The last for wastewater services. If your home isn’t Cherwell 110.43 77.37 published valuation was in 1989/90. connected to our surface water drains, you Chichester 92.69 66.53 can claim a reduction of £24.00 on the Water Chiltern 80.16 56.27 fixed wastewater charge, bringing it down For example, if your home’s chargeable to £29.00. Cotswold 110.43 77.37 value is £250 and the rate per pound for water is 80.16p, this part of your N/A 66.53 bill would be 250 x 80.16p, equalling 80.38 55.04 £200.40. Dacorum 80.16 56.27 Wastewater Dartford 80.38 55.04 We then work out the same sum for wastewater. Using the example above, Daventry N/A 77.37 the charge for sewerage is 56.27p, Ealing 80.16 56.27 meaning this part of your bill would be 250 x 56.27p, equalling £140.68. East Hampshire N/A 66.53 East 78.75 54.30 Elmbridge 92.69 66.53 Enfield 78.75 54.30 Epping Forest 78.75 54.30 & Ewell 80.38 55.04 Gravesham 80.38 55.04

4 5 Water Wastewater Water Wastewater Local authority area (Pence) (Pence) Local authority area (Pence) (Pence) Greenwich 80.38 55.04 Oxford 110.43 77.37 Guildford 92.69 66.53 Reading 92.69 66.53 Hackney 72.15 50.75 Redbridge 72.15 50.75 Hammersmith & Fulham 72.15 50.75 Reigate & Banstead 92.69 66.53 Haringey 78.75 54.30 Richmond 80.38 55.04 Harlow N/A 54.30 Runnymede N/A 66.53 Harrow N/A 56.27 Rushmoor N/A 66.53 Hart 92.69 66.53 St Albans N/A 56.27 Havering N/A 50.75 Sevenoaks 80.38 55.04 Hertsmere N/A 56.27 Slough 80.16 56.27 Hillingdon N/A 56.27 South Bedfordshire N/A 56.27 Horsham 92.69 66.53 South 80.16 56.27 Hounslow 80.16 56.27 South Northamptonshire N/A 77.37 Islington 72.15 50.75 South 110.43 77.37 Kennet 92.69 66.53 Southwark 80.38 55.04 Kensington & Chelsea 60.25 35.34 Spelthorne 80.16 56.27 Kingston 80.38 55.04 Stevenage N/A 54.30 Lambeth 80.38 55.04 Stratford N/A 77.37 Lewisham 80.38 55.04 Heath N/A 66.53 London, City of 60.25 35.34 Sutton 80.38 55.04 N/A 54.30 110.43 77.37 Merton 80.38 55.04 Tandridge 80.38 55.04 Mid Sussex N/A 66.53 Tewkesbury N/A 77.37 Mole Valley 92.69 66.53 Three Rivers N/A 56.27 Newbury 92.69 66.53 Tonbridge & Malling N/A 55.04 Newham 72.15 50.75 Tower Hamlets 72.15 50.75 North Hertfordshire N/A 54.30 Uttlesford N/A 54.30 North 110.43 77.37 Vale of White Horse 110.43 77.37

6 7 Water Wastewater Local authority area (Pence) (Pence) Waltham Forest 72.15 50.75 Wandsworth 80.38 55.04 N/A 56.27 Waverley 92.69 66.53 Welwyn Hatfield 78.75 54.30 Westminster 60.25 35.34 West Oxfordshire 110.43 77.37 Winchester N/A 66.53 Windsor & Maidenhead 92.69 66.53 Woking N/A 66.53 Wokingham 92.69 66.53 Wycombe 80.16 56.27

8 9 If you have a water meter Your bill is worked out using the amount For wastewater customers, it also of water you use, plus a fixed charge. contributes towards the costs of providing surface water drainage and highway We work out how much water you’ve drainage. used by taking a meter reading, or if we haven’t been able to do this, we’ll As well as this, your fixed charge estimate your usage. includes the costs of maintaining and replacing meters. For 2017/18, the volume charge for water is 128.97 pence per cubic metre, and For household customers, the fixed charge for wastewater is 78.83 pence per cubic is £20.87 for water services and £68.02 metre. for wastewater services. If your home isn’t connected to our sewer for the purpose of We then multiply your usage against the taking away surface water, you can claim charge per cubic metre (a cubic metre is a reduction of £24.00 on the wastewater equal to 1,000 litres). fixed charge, bringing it to £44.02.

Fixed charges If we couldn’t fit a water meter Once we’ve worked out the volume We sometimes find we can’t fit a meter charges for water and/or wastewater, we at a property, which is usually due to then add a fixed charge, which includes: location. If you have requested a meter, • reading your meter and we couldn’t fit one, we offer a • producing your bill different charging rate called the assessed household charge. • processing payments • managing debt The assessed household charge is based • answering queries on the number of bedrooms in the property or, for those who live alone, a single occupier tariff, as shown below. Assessed household charge rates.

Band Bedrooms Water (£) Wastewater (£) 1 0/1 bedroom 128.96 78.82 2 2 bedrooms 140.55 85.91 3 3 bedrooms 162.16 99.12 4 4 bedrooms 179.36 109.63 5 5 or more bedrooms 202.31 123.66 6 Single occupier 94.48 57.75

In addition, you pay a fixed charge of £32.19 for water and £53.00 for wastewater, if you’re on an assessed household charge. 10 11 Thames Tideway Tunnel We’re always working to modernise our This huge project is being delivered by a water and sewer networks throughout separate company, known as Tideway, London and the Thames Valley to make and will be completed by 2023. sure they can cope with the demands of the future. Around £13 of an average household bill for 2017/18 will go towards the project. One of the biggest projects to future- This amount will eventually rise to no proof our network is the Thames Tideway more than £25 a year, before inflation. Tunnel. This is a 15-mile-long sewer, the width of three London buses, which will We’ll continue to work as efficiently as run beneath the in London. possible, to make sure we keep your wastewater bill as low as possible. It will capture millions of tonnes of sewage, which would otherwise overflow into the river from the capital’s overloaded sewer system. We will treat the sewage and return the clean water to the environment.

12 13

WaterSure and WaterSure Plus Back-charging and refunds The WaterSure and WaterSure Plus WaterSure Plus applies to both metered We recognise that in some cases, We will not back charge for the full period schemes are designed to help you pay and unmetered household customers. customers will have received services from allowed by law, which could be six years your bill if you’re on a low income. In order to qualify, in addition to the us, but have either not been charged or more. points above, your bill must also account or been charged less than the correct Who is eligible? for 3 per cent or more of your total net amount. We also recognise that in some cases, You, or someone in your household, must household income, once mortgage customers may have been charged first be receiving one of the following: and/or rent payments (net of receipts We will apply back charges if the more than the correct amount for similar or allowances) for the household have customer should reasonably have known reasons. Where this happens, we will • Income-related Employment and that they were being undercharged, or not repay all overpaid charges for the full Support Allowance or Income Support been removed. (‘Household income’ includes the income of all members of the charged, for a service they receive. The period of any claim to the extent that correct charges will be applied to both such a claim is recoverable by law, and • Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance household.) the full year in which we identified the amend the bill accordingly. • Housing Benefit Eligible customers will have their total bill undercharge and the previous year. reduced by 50 per cent (excluding any • Pension Credit previous charges).

• Working Tax Credit How to apply • Child Tax Credit (other than just the If you think you’re eligible for either family element) scheme, please complete the form at thameswater.co.uk/helppaying or call our • Universal Credit helpline on 0800 009 3652 (lines open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm). If you do receive one of the above, to have your bills capped (at £374 per year) under the WaterSure scheme, you need to have a water meter and meet one or both of the following criteria:

• three or more children under the age of 19 living in the household, and you (or the person responsible for them) claim Child benefit for them, or

• you or someone living in your household has a medical condition that means they use a lot of extra water.

14 15 Contact us

thameswater.co.uk

Your bill and account For queries relating to your bill, change of address, meter readings and other billing enquiries, you can speak to our team on 0800 980 8800. Monday to Friday 8am to 8pm Saturday 8am to 6pm Textphone service if you are deaf or hard of hearing: 0800 316 6899. Telephone self service We have a wide range of self-service options available 24 hours a day, including: •  pay your bill with a debit or credit card • set up a Direct Debit or payment plan • check your balance. Water and wastewater services For water and wastewater enquiries, emergencies and other non-billing enquiries, you can call our team 24 hours a day on 0800 316 9800. Textphone service if you are deaf or hard of hearing: 0800 316 9898 To contact us from abroad: 01793 486 555

Thames Water, PO Box 286, Swindon SN38 2RA

This leaflet can be supplied in large print, braille, or audio format upon request.

13658 01/17