We operate a special scheme known as WaterSure that is designed to reduce the effect that having a water meter has on vulnerable customers who use large amounts of water.
After you have qualified for WaterSure, you will pay:
- your metered bill based on the amount of water you have used; or
- a yearly charge which reflects the average household bill for a water or sewerage service (or both) in your area;
whichever is lower.
In order to qualify you must occupy the premises as your only or principal home, the principal use of the premises must be as your home and the water supply should not be used to water gardens (other than by hand) or replenish a pond or swimming pool with a capacity greater than 10,000 litres., and the following two conditions need to be fulfilled:
You may be eligible for the WaterSure scheme if you:
- receive Child Benefit for three or more children under 19 who live in your household; or
- someone in your household uses more water than average because of a medical condition
Eligibility
1) You (or another resident) should be in receipt of one of the following:
- Council Tax Benefit
- Housing Benefit
- Income Support
- Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance
- Working Tax Credit
- Child Tax Credit (except for families in receipt of the family element only)
- Pension Credit
- Income Related Employment and Support Allowance
- Universal Credit
2) There should three or more children under the age of 19 living at the property for whom child benefit is being claimed, or someone in the household should have been diagnosed with one of the following medical conditions:
- Crohn’s Disease
- Abdominal stomas
- Incontinence
- Desquamation (flaky skin disease)
- Kidney failure requiring dialysis at home (except where a contribution is made by the health authority towards the cost of water used)
- Ulcerative colitis
- Weeping skin disease (eczema, psoriasis, varicose ulceration)
- Any other condition that necessitates significant extra use of water
To support your claim you will need to include copies of the following documentation where applicable with your completed application form:
Benefits or tax credits:
Photocopy of the latest notice of entitlement or award notice. This should be less than one year old for benefits, less than six months old for tax credits. If you have lost your notice of entitlement or award notice certificate, please get a replacement certificate by contacting the organisation that administers the benefit or tax credit to you.
Three or more children for whom benefit is claimed:
Evidence of the entitlement for child benefit that includes the dates of birth of each child. This can be either a completed copy of form CH84TS available from the Child Benefit Centre, or a photocopy of both the front and inside cover of your child benefit book. If you cannot find your latest notice of entitlement for child benefit, please contact the Child Benefit Centre for a copy.
Medical condition – specified on the list on the list above:
Medical evidence such as a doctor’s certificate, a letter/statement signed by a registered medical practitioner, or a copy of a repeat prescription.
Medical condition – not specified on the list above:
A written certificate/statement signed by a registered medical practitioner, which states:
- The name of the person with the medical condition
- The diagnosis of the medical condition, which results in significant use of water
- Date the certificate was given
- Name and address of the registered practitioner
More information
Please note that it may be necessary for us to contact an appropriate authority such as the Benefits Agency, Inland Revenue or a medical practitioner in connection with the information that you have given in this form. We will treat all information as confidential and we will not use it for any other purpose.
On confirmation of a successful application, the WaterSure tariff will be applied from the date of the last meter reading taken by us and will last until the next scheduled meter reading after twelve months have passed.
You will then be required to re-register if you think that you still qualify for the tariff. We will send you a reminder to let you know when you need to re-register, but if you do not, your account will automatically transfer to the basic tariff.
If you tell us during the year that you are no longer eligible for the WaterSure scheme, we will switch your account to the basic tariff from the date of the next scheduled meter reading.
You must inform us immediately if you cease to qualify for the Watersure Tariff. At the end of the charging year the charges will be adjusted if necessary, so that your charges do not exceed the amount you would have paid under the Standard Measured tariff or such other tariff for which you would have qualified if you had not applied for the Watersure tariff.
We may check entitlement to the tariff through visits, periodic requests for proofs of benefits entitlement and medical condition and periodic checks with JobcentrePlus, the DWP, Inland Revenue, the Pension Service or by contacting your medical practitioner.