Business water charges 2026/27 by wholesaler

These are Water Plus averages, based on overall charges across all its customers. Your own site’s change depends on how much water you use and the size of your meter. Use the table to see which way charges went, not as a quote.

Source Water Plus, wholesaler price changes. Find out which wholesaler serves your site on our wholesaler page.

The zeros for Affinity, Bristol, Portsmouth, South East, South Staffs and SES aren’t price freezes. Those companies only supply water. Your sewerage comes from a different wholesaler and follows that company’s figure.

The averages hide a lot. In Southern Water’s area, water charges went up 29.1% while sewerage fell 5.6%, which works out at a 5.7% average. A garage that mostly pays for water is likely to see a change closer to 29.1%. A site with heavy sewerage and trade effluent charges may see little change, or even a small fall.

Meter size matters as well. Some fixed charges are set by meter size, as Southern Water’s surface water drainage charge is, so two businesses using the same amount of water can see different changes.

This example is illustrative. A small hotel in Devon pays £6,000 a year in wholesale charges. If its change matched the South West Water average of 17.1%, its wholesale charges would rise by about £1,026. A similar hotel in the Thames area, on the 2.8% average, would see a rise of about £168. Switching retailer wouldn’t change either of those numbers.

Scotland has one wholesaler. Water Plus puts the average rise in Scottish Water’s clean water charges at 8.67% for 2026/27. That’s the same figure Scottish Water gave for household bills, in line with limits set by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland. Unmeasured and drainage charges are based on rateable values, and new values apply from 1 April 2026. Where a property’s rateable value has gone up, Water Plus expects that rise in rateable value to be 20% or less. There’s more on our Scotland page and in our Scottish tariffs guide.

The 2026/27 charges follow Ofwat’s 2024 price review, known as PR24. Ofwat reviews these price limits every five years. Thames Water’s indicative charges paper, for example, assumed 3.5% CPIH inflation alongside the PR24 Final Determination. Each wholesaler publishes its own charges. The 2026/27 charging year runs from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027.

A business water bill has two parts. The wholesale charge covers the pipes, treatment and sewers, and every retailer passes it on at the same rate. The retail fee covers billing, meter reads and customer service, and that’s where retailers differ. A comparison only helps if it shows those two parts separately.

We’ll keep this page up to date. When wholesalers publish 2027/28 charges, we’ll update the table and keep the 2026/27 figures underneath for reference.

We’d start with your SPID and address, confirm which wholesaler or wholesalers serve the site, and set out the wholesale charge so you can see it’s the same on every quote. Then we’d put retail fees from our panel of licensed retailers side by side. You’d see the total, the retail fee and how each retailer bills.

Send us your business address and SPID and we’ll quote straight away. Compare business water suppliers