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Welcome to your new home!

If you’re new to the North West, let us introduce ourselves. We’re United Utilities and we keep the taps flowing and toilets flushing for our seven million customers across the North West. We hope your move went smoothly and you’ve settled into your new home.

We thought this would be the ideal time to provide some key details about our services and how your bills will be calculated.

As you don’t have a water meter, your bills will be calculated using the rateable value of your home. We’ve explained more about this below, along with information about the services we provide.

  • As your new home doesn’t have a water meter, we use your property’s rateable value to calculate your bills.

    Rateable values were set by the Inland Revenue prior to 31 March 1990 and were based on factors such as the size, condition and location of your home. As we didn’t set these values, we’re not allowed to change them and they’re no longer reviewed by any other body.

    We work out your bills by multiplying your home’s rateable value with a charge for each of our services. Rateable value isn’t related to how much water you use and for many customers, a water meter can be one of the easiest ways to reduce your bills. We fit meters for free and you have two years to trial the meter before making a decision on whether to stay on meter charges.

    Most customers who switch to a meter save at least £100 a year on their bills. During the two-year trial period we also guarantee that you won’t pay more than you do now and any savings you make are yours to keep. We call this our ‘lowest bill guarantee’. Visit our meter section to see how much you could save.

    Here’s a short video which explains how we calculate your bill using your rateable value.

  • In simple terms you pay us for the following services: 

    • Supplying clean water to your home 

    • Taking away all your used water (which we call wastewater services), cleaning it and returning it to rivers and the sea

    • Removing the rainwater that falls on your home and the roads (we call these services 'surface water and highway drainage')

    • Standing charge - we add a charge to cover the cost of providing customer related services such as dealing with enquiries, managing your water account and preparing and issuing bills

  • To make it easier for you to pay your water charges, when we first set up your account we recommend that you spread your payments over the year into smaller, manageable amounts. We call this a payment plan. Most customers on a payment plan pay their bills direct from their bank account by setting up a Direct Debit.

    As we use your home’s rateable value to calculate your bill, your bill is fixed for the year and isn’t based on the amount of water you use. We therefore spread your payments across the year to pay your annual charges.

    If you've not already set up a payment plan, we recommend you do this as soon as possible so that you don’t fall behind with your payments.

    We’ve explained how we calculate payment plans in more detail here.

  • We would always recommend setting up a Direct Debit as soon as you move in so that you don’t have a big bill to pay later on. You can then spread your bill over the year into smaller payments to make it more affordable. You can pay weekly, fortnightly, monthly – the choice is yours. We will also give you a £5 annual discount when you pay by Direct Debit.

    To set up a Direct Debit, register to manage your account online or call us on 0345 672 2888. You will need your water account number to set up an online account, you can find this on your welcome letter.

  • Your first bill will arrive within a week of moving into your new home. The bill will cover the period from when you move in up to 31st March. You will then receive bills from us annually, covering the 12 month period 1st April to 31st March.

    As your bills are calculated based on the rateable value of your home, your charges for the year are fixed and not based on the amount of water you use.

    If you are an existing customer, we will send you a final bill for your previous address. You should receive this bill within a week of your move. This bill will show if you still owe money at your previous address or whether you have a credit balance. If you have a payment plan already set up, your future payments may change depending on the debits or credits from your previous address.

    We will send bills to you via email or post, depending on whether you have chosen paperless billing when registering for My Account.

  • Once you’ve received your account number from us in your welcome letter, you can then set up your online account and register for our app. You’ll then be able to pay your bill, set up a Direct Debit, provide meter readings and view your bills from your phone or computer. You can also see how much water you’ve used each time we read your meter.

Key dates when you move home

When you move in

Once you’ve told us you’ve moved in, we’ll set up your account at your new address and send you your first bill. This will cover the period from your move in date up to 31st March. We’ll also set up a payment plan to spread your bill across the year into smaller, more manageable amounts to prevent you falling behind with your payments. If you are an existing customer we’ll also confirm any debit or credit from your previous address (when we send a final bill from your previous address).

Within the first month

Once you have received your welcome letter from us you’ll then be able to register for your online account using your account number. This will make it really easy to make payments online and download your bills.

January - March

As your bills are calculated using your rateable value, you will only receive one bill a year showing your charges for the year ahead. We send out our annual bills between end January and end March each year and the charges cover the 12 month period 1st April to 31st March. If you have a payment plan set up (such as a Direct Debit) your payment instalments may change depending on whether our charges have increased. Your payment amounts are shown on your bill so please check these when your annual bill arrives.

We have lots more information to help you get the most from your services

Cheaper with a meter

You might be able to make a big saving on your bills by switching to a water meter.

Tips to Stop the Block

Don’t let your new home get ruined by blockages and flooding - it’s really easy to keep your pipes and drains blockage-free by following our simple tips.

Help when you need it most

We can all benefit from a bit of extra help due to age, ill-health, mental health problems or language barriers. Register now to benefit from a range of services.

Support with your payments

If you’re going through a tough financial patch and finding it hard to make payments we have lots of ways to make your water bills more affordable.