My Account
Your water bill covers much more than just the cost of the clean water you use and the waste water we take away. Behind the scenes here at Severn Trent we work hard 24 hours a day, 52 weeks a year to ensure that you receive a clean and reliable water supply. And to do this, we need to manage all the pipes and treatment works on a day to day basis as well as invest in them for the future.
Our average household bill for water and sewerage in 2018-19 will be around £348 per year or just 95 pence per day. And we’re proud to say that this is the lowest combined bill across the whole of Great Britain and compares to an average bill of £395 for all other water companies.
You can download a simple guide to our household charges and see the full scheme if you want more detail here.
Below you can see what makes up our average bill of 95p per day.
Building new pipes and water facilities
We’ll make sure water is there when you need it - now and for the future. We are continuously investing in new projects that will give you a service you can rely on for many years to come.
Financing new investment
We’ll continue to invest in the future and ensure we can financially support future projects.
Energy
We use energy to treat water and pump it around our network. Currently we produce 24% of our own energy including converting solid material from sewage into gas.
VAT and Licences
Water has VAT added to it by the government at 5%. We also have to pay for licences to provide our services.
Running our business
This covers things like our customer service team, our IT systems and our engineers. Important elements that enable us to look after you and your home.
To provide you with a continuous supply of water, we:
- Gather and collect water from rivers and reservoirs or pump it from underground rocks
- Store the water ready to be treated
- Treat, clean and distribute the water to over 4m homes
When you have finished with your water, it is also our job to ensure your waste water is safely taken away and part of your bill pays for:
- Pumping sewage to treatment works
- Treating sewage so that it is safe to return to the environment
- Sending cleaned and treated waste water back into rivers and the sea
- Answer calls and enquiries from our customers
- Manage and develop our billing system
Repairing and replacing our network
There’s a lot of work involved to ensure the water services to and from your home
run smoothly. So we need to carry out maintenance on our network of reservoirs, treatment works, pumping stations and sewer pipes.
Performance Incentives
Similar to ‘performance related pay’, the way we’re regulated links the service we deliver to our customers to the charges they pay. The size of these changes are based on the results of customer research which tell us how much customers value the improvements we’ve made. This year’s incentives are based on our performance in 2016/17 and there is a small increase in your sewerage bill as, on balance, we have improved our service by more than our commitments. But there is a small reduction in your water bill as we didn’t achieve enough of our commitments in this area. Overall, the bill per day will be around 0.8 pence higher.
I need help paying my bill
We know that for some customers, changes in their bills can be difficult to manage. We can help you find the easiest way for you to pay your bill as well as tell you about a number of schemes that we run including the Big Difference Scheme which could help reduce your total bill.
Find out more here or call us on 03456 022 777 to talk through all your options and see how we can help.
How we improved our service
In 2016/17 we improved our service across a range of areas, including:
- 9% reduction in water supply interruptions, now 17% ahead of our target
- Further reductions in sewer flooding inside customers’ homes, now 9% better than target; and
- Reductions in serious pollution incidents, now 25% better than our target.
Two of the biggest projects the company is currently investing in are the £300m Birmingham Resilience Project to provide the city with an alternative water supply, and a £60m scheme in Newark to protect 400 homes and businesses from flooding and to simultaneously replace water pipes in the town.
But we didn’t always deliver the improvements we promised. For example:
- We reduced drinking water quality complaints by 12%, but the service we provide still isn’t consistent enough, and
- Our overall leakage is 2% better than our target, a major turnaround from last
year, but we still fell short of our target of repairing 80% of visible leaks
in 24 hours.
And because we didn’t deliver these commitments, amongst others, a small reduction has been made to the average household water bill.
Why else are bills changing this year?
Every year we update our charges. As well as our service, there are a number of other changes that could impact bills. They include:
- Changes in the rate of inflation,
- Reductions in our costs as we become more efficient,
- Changes in the number of customers we serve (and how much water they use),
- Changes to make sure that we haven’t collected more revenue from customers’ bills than the limits set by our regulator.
And if you’re on a meter, the amount of water you use could increase or decrease your bill. Discover our helpful water saving tips and the range of devices we can provide to help you save water and save money.