Changes to our charges

To help us deliver the required improvements in our services, our charges increased on 1 April. These increases mean that for households with combined water and sewerage services provided by Wessex Water:

• a typical metered bill (based on a usage of 100m³ per year) is 21% higher this year, compared to 2024-25
• a typical unmetered bill (based on the average property rateable value) is 24% higher this year, compared to 2024-25.

These percentage increases are for a typical household that stays on the same tariff and (for metered customers) uses the same volume of water. The actual change to your bill may differ from these amounts – please see further information below.

You can also view our full charges for more information on how the individual parts of your bill (including standing charges) have changed.

We are currently unable to say exactly how much bills will change from 1 April 2026, as they will be affected by things such as inflation.

We have also asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to review Ofwat’s decision on our 2025-2030 business plan. This is because we don’t believe it will allow us to deliver what our customers have asked of us or fulfil our wider obligations. The outcome of this review is likely to affect future bills.

In October 2025, the CMA published its provisional findings. The CMA agreed that additional funding is required in some areas to deliver all of our planned improvements. Based on these early findings and our forecast of inflation, we currently expect average bills for combined water and sewerage customers to rise by 11% in 2026.

We will confirm changes to next year’s bills in early 2026 following the full outcome of the CMA’s review. Our final charges will be published by February 2026.

For metered customers, changes in bills can be affected by:

• how much water you use - households that use more water will see larger increases. Furthermore, if your usage has increased since your last bill, this will also affect how much your bill has increased by

• the time of year you receive your bill - this affects how long the new charges have been applied. Usage also tends to be higher in the summer months. You can check your bill to confirm the period it covers

• any outstanding balance that may be owed - this would be added to your new bill (based on the charges applicable at the time of usage).

For unmetered customers, the change in bills depends on the rateable value of your property.

Households with higher rateable values will generally see slightly larger increases.

If your water or sewerage services are provided by another company, your overall bill increase is likely to be different.

This is because each company’s charges have changed by different amounts, reflecting each company’s specific requirements as well as Ofwat’s decision on their business plan.

Bristol Water customers can visit their website for a summary of relevant water charges.