In April 2017, the water market in England opened. This meant that the Water Industry Act required business customers to be treated separately to domestic households and be serviced by water retailers, like Wave, which are separate to water wholesalers.
The wholesalers for our area (Anglian Water, Hartlepool Water, Northumbrian Water and Essex and Suffolk Water) transferred their databases to Wave. As the water retailer, we’re responsible for the customer service, billing and meter read services. The water and wastewater is still treated and taken away by the wholesalers.
To be determined as a non-household customer, you would typically be registered for business rates, appear on the Valuation Office (VOA) and be operating a business from your premise.
What to do if you think you’ve been wrongly classified as non-household
If you think you’ve been wrongly classified as non-household, we’ll ask you a few questions that we can use as evidence to help with the process of de-registering, for example, are you registered for Council Tax?
As the market has now been open for a number of years, it’s likely if you are de-registered this will only be from the date of the application.
What happens if I’m on a shared supply?
If you have a shared supply – for example you’re a shop and upstairs is a domestic flat – we might ask you more questions such as:
- How many hours is your business open?
- How many people work at your premises?
- What appliances and fittings do you have that use water?
- Is there any information you can give us about the property upstairs?
The more information you can give us, the quicker we can give you advice.
