Your charges explained

There are a number of factors that determine what you are charged. The following provides an explanation to help you understand how the charges have been calculated.

Our prices change each year on 1 April and remain the same until 31 March in the following year. For details of all our charges please see the information below, see our Charges Scheme or contact us  

Understanding our charges

Your bill has two parts:

1. A charge for the water services. This is to cover the costs of treating and supplying you with clean drinking water.
2. A charge for sewerage services. This is to cover the removal, treatment and disposal of wastewater and surface water (rainwater) from your property and includes a charge for highway drainage. Northumbrian Water Ltd (NWL) provides these services, but we collect the charges on its behalf.

Some household charges are based on the rateable value (RV) of the property as at 31 March 1990, so part of the bill is based on a charge for each pound of the RV.  Other properties built or converted from 1 April 1990, have a water meter.  

If you are interested in switching to measured charges, please see our water meters page or contact us.

For more information on water and sewerage charges please see our  send us an enquiry email or call us on 01429 858 030 during normal office hours - from 8.30am to 5pm Monday to Friday, excluding Bank Holidays.  

Charges for customers who don’t have a water meter

Your charge for water services is made up of:

• A fixed charge known as a standing charge.  

Your charge for sewerage services is made up of:

• A fixed charge known as a standing charge.
• A charge for each pound of the rateable value (RV) where your property has an RV, which was assessed by the District Valuer and frozen on 31 March 1990 or;
• A notional RV and fixed charge is applied to properties built from 1 April 1990.  

Commercial properties built or substantially altered from 1 April 1990 have no rateable value and we calculate the variable element of your sewerage bill using the Uniform Business Rate (UBR) of the property. A variable charge of 5.59p for sewerage per pound of UBR is applied.  

For domestic and commercial properties built after 31 March 1990, which do not have either a rateable value or UBR, the variable charge for sewerage services is based upon a notional RV of 180.

On average, our charges for domestic customers for the water services we provide will increase by five per cent from 1 April 2009. However, the change in your own bill will depend on the services you receive (water and/or sewerage), the RV of your property, your water consumption if you have a water meter and your surface area charge if you are a commercial customer. Northumbrian Water Ltd. (NWL) has its own range of tariffs for the services it provides.  

For more information on water and sewerage charges please see our  or contact us.  

Customers with a Water Meter

Water and Sewerage charges for domestic customers are detailed in the table below:

*  A wastewater element. This is for disposal of water from toilets, baths, sinks and kitchen appliances, such as washing machines and dishwashers in your property.

*  A surface water and highway drainage charge. This is for disposal of rain or melted snow that drains from roofs or other hard surfaces, such as driveways or other hardstandings, on your property. It also includes a contribution towards the drainage of roads and pavements in your area.  

Are you liable for surface water charges?

In most cases, surface water drains into public sewers, but in some circumstances, ground conditions have enabled the use of soakaways or drainage into a local watercourse as an alternative.   If you are a domestic customer on either unmetered or metered charges and you can demonstrate that none of the surface water from your property drains into the public sewerage system, either directly or indirectly, then you could reduce the sewerage standing charge on your bill by £38.90 in 2010/11.   If you are a commercial customer, your charge for surface water drainage is based upon the area charge method (SWD Band). You may also be eligible to claim a reduction in chargeable area in relation to any area of the site that does not drain to the public sewer.   If you believe that you are eligible to apply for an allowance on your surface water drainage charge or as a commercial customer, you would like to appeal against the surface water charging band that has been allocated to your property, please contact us for more information and an application form.

Why charges change?

Water supply and sewerage service charges have increased to pay for the massive investment programme needed to meet the rigorous standards set by UK and European legislation. We have made significant progress, but much still remains to be done. To finance this investment we have needed to increase charges. If you would like further information on our investment programme or to learn more about how we put your money to work, please contact us. The formula for setting our charges is laid down in the licence under which we operate. The formula is RPI plus or minus K; RPI is the rate of inflation or Retail Price Index in the November prior to the start of the charging year. K is an adjustment factor, which is set individually for each water company by the Director General of Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat).

For further information please see our or contact us