Compare business water suppliers in Dundee

Scottish Water raised its charges by an average of 8.67% for 2026/27, inside the limit set by WICS. Your own change depends on how your premises are charged.

Scottish business premises are metered unless a meter isn’t practical. A metered site pays a fixed annual charge tied to meter size plus a volume charge. Without a meter, water and waste water are charged on the property’s rateable value. Property drainage (rain from your roofs and car park) and roads drainage (a contribution to draining public roads) are both calculated from rateable value too. Since April 2018 these charges have used the live figure on the valuation roll, so a new value carries through to the bill.

Across Scotland the total rateable value on the roll rose by 10.86% when the revaluation took effect on 1 April 2026. In Dundee City, 61% of properties saw their value go up.

Here’s what that means on a bill (illustrative)

Take a Dundee shop whose drainage charges came to about £600 in 2025/26 on a rateable value of £20,000. If revaluation lifted that value to £24,000, the drainage lines would rise by a fifth from the value change alone, to around £720, before the year’s tariff change. Every licensed provider passes those wholesale charges through on the same basis, which leaves the retail element as the part worth comparing.

A successful rateable value appeal to the assessor triggers a recalculation of the water charges that depend on it. Our Scottish business water tariffs guide explains each charge type.

The Central Waterfront. The regeneration is a £1.6 billion programme across 240 hectares between the Tay and the city centre. Near Slessor Gardens there are new grade A offices, including Agnes Husband House, and hotels such as the Apex City Quay Hotel & Spa. Tenants in new buildings often sit behind a landlord’s supply, so check the recharge reflects your share.

Games and digital. Abertay University students and graduates were recognised at the TIGA UK Games Education Awards 2026. The city’s studios are mostly office based, so the fixed meter charge and drainage make up more of their bill than volume does.

Life sciences. The University of Dundee’s School of Life Sciences runs research labs and offers its facilities to outside clients. Purified water, glasswashers and autoclaves add volume, and some discharges need a trade effluent consent.

MSIP. Scotland’s Innovation Parc is a 32-hectare site of industrial units, labs and coworking space for manufacturing and net zero firms. Our Scottish manufacturing page covers process and cooling water.

The Port of Dundee. Forth Ports lists 1,600 metres of quayside, 170,000 square metres of marshalling yard used for offshore wind, and 150,000 tonnes of agri-bulk storage. Hard standing on that scale makes property drainage the charge to look at first.

Property drainage is normally charged on rateable value, though Scottish Water’s 2026/27 scheme also lists an area-based alternative per square metre. Either way, it only belongs on your bill if surface water reaches a public sewer.

Scottish Water’s guidance says charges apply where pipes leave the property boundary and become a public sewer, and a single connected area such as a loading bay can make the whole site count as connected. If you think nothing from your premises reaches the public network, your licensed provider can request a review.

1. Gather as-built drainage plans showing foul and surface water across the whole boundary, including the landlord’s wider property on a shared estate.
2. Show the route and outfall of any private pipe beyond your boundary, with any wayleave or servitude agreement.
3. Ask your provider to submit the request. Scottish Water may visit before it decides.

Our Scottish drainage charges guide goes into more detail.