Charging for water services is a complex matter involving both the law and our economic regulator, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat).

There are two ways we can charge you for water:
One is based on the rateable value (RV) of your property (unmetered) and the other is determined by how much water you use (metered) – this is measured using a water meter.

For the foreseeable future, unmetered customers will remain on rateable value based charges, but all domestic customers have the option to ask for a meter to be installed free of charge.

Sewerage services provided by Wessex Water are subject to separate charges where appropriate

NOTE: Charges for Bristol Water and Wessex Water (most of our customers’ sewerage company) are collected by Bristol Wessex Billing Services Limited, BWBSL.  Due to this billing arrangement much of the billing literature is written with both water services in mind. To get more details about Wessex Water go to www.wessexwater.co.uk.

• General conditions, payment dates, options and charges - click here to download 

• Connection, disconnection and infrastructure charges - click here to download

• Collection of domestic water debts – click here to view

• Collection of commercial water debts – click here to view

• Customer enquiries and complaints – click here to view

Bills have increased because although Bristol Water operate very efficiently, costs rise as a result of money spent to meet ever higher standards, particularly environmental ones. Our regulator, Ofwat, confirms the overall limits within which our charges can change and the way in which we apply charges each year.  Ofwat allows our overall charges to change by inflation, or RPI, plus what is known as the  K factor which can be set to either a positive or negative amount. The K factor is the amount Ofwat allows us to charge in order for us to finance the provision of our services and meet our investment obligations. They can also, as they have for the next two years year, allow us to recover the loss of income from costs that were not able to be determined at the time of the last  price review, which set our K factors for the 2005-10 period. The K factor for this year is 0%.  

Our overall average increase in charges for 2009/10 is 3.4% but although we quote average increases, few customers have an average bill. Your bill may go up by more or less than 3.4% depending on the service you receive from us, how much water you use if you are a metered customer or the rateable value of your property if you are an unmetered customer.

Bristol Water has been consistently rated as amongst the best in the industry over the years and the latest Ofwat report on levels of service confirms this by placing us in the top three of the 22 water companies in England and Wales. Bristol Water achieved a total score of 283, just four short of the top-rated company, scoring the maximum for customer service and leakage performance targets. Each year Ofwat assesses water companies’ overall delivery of service to customers and this assessment reflects the broad range of services including water supply, water quality, customer service (handling of complaints, supply pipe repairs and customer information) and environmental impact, such as leakage.

We are continuing to make good progress in the delivery of the £179m investment programme required by Ofwat’s determination of price limits for the period 2005-2010. During the year, the following schemes were completed:

• A £24m project to improve the security of supply for a population of almost 200,000 in the northern and eastern parts of Bristol and surrounding areas. This scheme has already been used to maintain supplies to customers during emergency situations caused by power failures.
• An £11m project to upgrade our Banwell treatment works to improve its effectiveness in dealing with a range of different raw water qualities.
• A £7m project to construct a new treatment works to treat water from the River Axe. The major schemes have now been largely completed with the focus on maintenance of assets for the remainder of the period.