Household bills will increase by an average of £31 in 2012-13 – a rise of 8.2 per cent. This will help to pay for a £1.8 billion programme of service and environmental improvements, boosting the local economy and supporting thousands of jobs.

The investment is the equivalent of spending almost £1,000 for every property in the Southern Water region. For information on projects in your area, click here.

The average bill for customers receiving both water and wastewater services will be £416 — a daily cost of about £1.15. The increase on last year’s average bill of £385 equates to just over £2.50 per month.

Our charges, which are approved by our regulator Ofwat, not only cover the day-to-day running costs of the business but also contribute to the improvement programme which is taking place from 2010 to 2015. This includes more than 330 environmental projects, more than any other water company.

In addition, 60km of water mains and sewers will be renewed in 2012/13 along with schemes to safeguard water supplies, improve water quality, reduce leakage and help prevent flooding.

To find out more about how the money is spent, click here.  For the answers to some of the questions about the terms used on your bill, click here. For information on how we can help if you have difficulty paying your bill, click here.

The tables below show our 2012-13 charges. Unmetered charges are calculated using the Rateable Value (RV) of a property. Metered charges are based on the volume of water/wastewater used (m³, cubic metres):

Unmetered properties

Metered properties

Service  Water  Sewerage   Combined   Standing    charge  £34.42 £66.46* £100.88  Charge per £ of Rateable Value (RV)   £0.644 £1.219 £1.863  Bill for property with RV of £150  £131.02  £249.31 £380.33  Bill for property with RV of £200  £163.22 £310.26 £473.48  Bill for property with RV of £250  £195.42 £371.21 £566.63  Bill for property with RV of £300  £227.62 £432.16  £659.78

Service  Water  Sewerage   Combined   Standing  charge £26.37 £50.17** £76.54 Charge per m3 of water/wastewater  £1.134 £2.080 £3.058***   Bill for property using 50m3 per year  £83.07   £146.37 £229.44  Bill for property using 100m3 per year  £139.77  £242.57 £382.34  Bill for property using 150m3 per year  £196.47 £338.77 £535.24   Bill for property using 200m3 per year    £253.17 £434.97  £688.14

 * The standing charge for unmetered customers receiving a surface water drainage rebate is £44.46
** The standing charge for metered customers receiving a surface water drainage rebate is £28.17
*** The combined charge for metered properties has been adjusted to reflect that when we calculate your sewerage charges we only charge for 92.5% of the volume of water supplied

Ofwat sets limits on how much water companies can charge their customers every five years. The last price review was in 2009, when price limits were set for the period 2010-2015. 

The amount by which water companies can change their prices is called the K factor. This is added to the rate of inflation to calculate the overall annual change. The K factor for each year from 2010 - 2015 is shown in the table below:

Year	10/11	11/12	12/13	13/14	14/15
K factor	-0.7	0.0	3.6	3.3	-0.1