Water Board 2025-2026 published charges are now in force

Every April, the water boards around the country update their published charges to state what key items aregoing to cost in the year ahead.

Branch connections, infrastructure charges and meter supply are all included, and the new costs will affect the price of new connections. Any non-contestable works/charges carried out after April 2025 will be subject to the new charges.

That means costs for water infrastructure connections will unavoidably increase going forward in almost all cases.

The end of the water income offset era

April 2025 was a milestone in water charges historyas it brought a close to the water income offset era. The water income offset was the water board’s calculation of the future earnings on the connection.

This calculated amount was fixed per connection and then discounted off the total non-contestable charges. However, due to large scale reinforcements required on the country’s water networks, water boards have scrapped this offset – making water costs more expensive for both cleanwater and wastewater connections.

To see 2025/26 cleanwater and wastewater charges for the main water boards in the UK, please click here.

How much could the new water charges cost you?

Some recent examples of how the increased cost affects sites include:

United Utilities

A recent quotation for a site in Manchester was affected by this change, with water connection charges adding an additional £30,030.00 to the overall cost.

Severn Trent Water

A recent quotation in Leicester also showed the impact of the changes. It included an increased charge for water connections of £7,547.10.

Bristol Water

Finally, a site in Bristol where we had to add an extra £14,920.00 fee to cover the new 2025-26 charges.

Companies that supply cleanwater only; How will this affect your costs?

There are Water Boards that only supply cleanwater, but they are not as commonly used, including:

·      Affinity Water

·      Bristol Water

·      Cambridge Water

·      Essex & Suffolk Water

·      Portsmouth Water

·      SES Water

·      South East Water

·      South Staffs Water

·      Hafren Dyfrdwy

If you deal with any of these other companies, contact us for their costs and which sewer operator they use and we can put together a combined quote for you which covers both services.

For example, we recently dealt with a client who used Bristol Water for cleanwater and needed to use Wessex Water for their sewage. Our quote covered both Water Boards as well as:

·       Potential efficiency discounts from using less water

·       Whether surface water (rain water) drains into public sewers (which would mean a full charge), or it runs into either a natural water course or a man-made attenuation zone (which means a partial charge)

We have the knowledge and contacts within the Water Boards to make this process easy for you and take care of any complexities if you are using a Board which only supplies cleanwater.

Non-contestable charges are passed on from the water boards

Our clients are reminded that non-contestable costs are passed-on charges from the water boards and are not part of contestable works by Zenit.

All utility infrastructure providers approached for new connections quotes should all be using the same non-contestable charges without discrepancies.

That means prices in this area should be consistent and like-for-like across quotations, no matter who you are getting them from. If they are not, you should query it with the utility infrastructure providers you have received quotes from as they may not be using the most up-to-date charges which could lead to further surprise expense down the line.

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