Our promise to you, our customers
At Bristol Water we aim to deliver the best possible service to our customers. Our promise sets out the standards of service you can expect from us as your trusted water supplier.
At Bristol Water we aim to deliver the best possible service to our customers. Our promise sets out the standards of service you can expect from us as your trusted water supplier.
We acknowledge though that sometimes things can go wrong. Below you can find out what compensation you are entitled to, if we fail to meet our high standards.
We’ll try to make things quick and easy for you, so payments will be automatic, unless stated otherwise.
Issues relating to your water supply
Planned interruptions
We’ll give you at least 48-hours advance notice in writing if we need to carry out planned work, that will result in an interruption to your water supply up to a 4-hour period. We will also let you know when you can expect your supply to be restored.
- If we fail to give you notice, we’ll automatically pay you £50.
- If we don’t restore your supply by the time we said we would, we’ll automatically pay you £50 plus an additional £50 for each further complete 12-hour period your supply remains unrestored*.
We will issue the payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you a further £40 for the delay.
*We must be able to identify you as being affected by proposed interruption to your water supply and you have not made a claim within three months of the date on which the supply was cut off. Payment will also not be given if the interruption is due to drought, or due to a disconnection made under sections 61 or 62 of the Water Industry Act 1991. Any payments made are up to a cap of twice the customer’s annual water supply charge.
Our customer promise and payments were updated as from 1 October 2025.
Emergency interruptions
i.e. burst water main
If we don’t restore your water supply within 12 hours of being notified of the problem we will:
- Automatically pay you £50, plus an additional £50 for each further complete 12-hour period your supply remains unrestored*.
- We’ll issue the payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you a further £40 for the delay.
*We must be able to identify you as being affected by proposed interruption to your water supply and you have not made a claim within three months of the date on which the supply was cut off. Payment will also not be given if the interruption is due to drought, or due to a disconnection made under sections 61 or 62 of the Water Industry Act 1991. Any payments made are up to a cap of twice the customer’s annual water supply charge.
Water Pressure
We’ll provide you with a good flow to your tap ensuring a minimum of 1.0 bar of pressure. If the pressure falls below this on two separate occasions, and each lasting more than one hour within a 28-day period, we will automatically pay you £50*.
We’ll issue the payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you a further £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given where; five £50 payments (or a maximum of £250) have already been made for the same issue in the same financial year, it’s been impractical to identify the customer as being affected, the customer has not made a claim within three months of the latter occasion, or an act or default of a person other than the company representative making it unfeasible to maintain the required pressure. The standard also does not apply if the pressure falls below the minimum due to necessary works taking place, a burst, or due to drought.
Please let our Customer Service team know if you’re experiencing this problem.
Our promise
Making appointments
If we need to make an appointment to visit you, we will give you notice that we’ll visit during a morning (8am until 12pm) or afternoon (1pm until 4.15pm) slot, or if requested, we will give you a two-hour time slot for when we plan to visit you.
If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £40*. We’ll make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given in case of an emergency, where the customer has cancelled the appointment, an act or default of a person prevents us from keeping the appointment, where we have given at least 24 hours’ notice, or where it’s impossible to keep the appointment due to severe weather.
Keeping appointments
We’ll arrive within the agreed time slot. If we need to rearrange or cancel the appointment, we’ll give you at least 24 hours’ notice.
If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £50*. We’ll make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given in case of an emergency, where the customer has cancelled the appointment, an act or default of a person prevents us from keeping the appointment, where we have given at least 24 hours’ notice, or where it’s impossible to keep the appointment due to severe weather.
Complaints
If you make a complaint, we aim to resolve it within five working days. However, if it requires further investigation, we promise to provide a substantive response to your complaint within 10* working days. If we fail to respond to you within 10 days we will compensate you £40**.
We will make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*The 10-day period begins on the day after the complaint was received.
**Payment may not be given if you have told us you do not wish to continue with the complaint, your complaint is frivolous or vexatious, or your complaint is not considered valid as detailed in our Customer Code of Practice.
Water quality
If there's a problem with the quality of the tap water we supply to you, we'll do everything we can to fix it as quickly as possible. We will also issue a 'restriction of use' notice, if you need to stop using your water temporarily. If we need to issue a notice that covers the following situations, we will automatically pay you £40* for the initial 48-hour period, then £20 for each subsequent full 24-hour period.
- ‘Do not drink’ notice
- ‘Do not use’ notice
- ‘Boil water’ notice
We will make this payment within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be made where the water used for supply was polluted or contaminated by the customer contrary to section 72 or 73 of the Water Industry Act 1991, the water quality notice was served due to drought (or immediately following a period of drought), or where the water supply was cut off or interrupted. The amount someone can receive is capped at the annual water bill amount for the property
Measured charges
If you request to move to measured charging for your water supply at your property, we will begin measuring the supply of water for the purpose of charging within eight weeks (or 56 days) from the date of your application.
If we don’t do this, and the delay is our fault, then we will automatically pay your water charges from the 57th day until we begin to charge by measure.
Payment will not be made if we’re prevented from beginning to measure supply of water for the purposes of charging by the act or default or a person other than the customer (or someone acting on their behalf). Wastewater charges still apply.
Meter reading
In a 13-month period, we will provide you with at least one actual meter reading, which will be used to bill you for the water you’re using.
If we don’t do this, we’ll automatically pay you £40*, then a further £80 for each subsequent full period of 13 months if the water meter remains unread.
We will make any payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given where we’re unable to read the meter through either; the customer refusing access to the premises for purpose of reading the meter, obstruction meaning the meter cannot be read practically or safely, or any other act or default by a person. This standard also does not apply to smart meters.
Bills
If you have enquired about the accuracy of your bill, we’ll respond within five working days of you contacting us, or 10 working days, if a site visit is required. If we fail to do this, we’ll compensate you £40*.
If you request a change in payment method that is not possible, we will respond within five working days. If we fail to do this, we’ll compensate you £40*.
We will make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given if the customer tells they do not wish to continue with the query or request, or an act or default of a person prevents us from responding, or the request is not considered valid.
Priority Services
If, based on your needs, you receive water delivery during an incident, have signed up for alternative formats of communication, or appointed a person to manage your water account on your behalf, you will be added to our Core Priority Services Register (CPSR).
- We will register you to our Core Priority Services Register within 30 calendar days from when we receive your application.
- We will confirm what services you can expect to receive after joining the register and the timescales for these in your welcome letter (otherwise known as an inclusion notice). If you’re not eligible we’ll also let you know
- We’ll communicate with you in your preferred way or speak with your nominated contact on your behalf during an incident
- We’ll deliver bottled water to you in an incident within 12 hours, as promised in your welcome letter
If we fail to do any of the above, we’ll automatically pay you £100.
We will make any payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
Debt collection
We promise to go through your circumstances, and we’ll do our best to support you. However, if we don’t come to an agreement, we will either begin legal proceedings, or provide information to a collection agency.
Before we take any action, we will:
- Provide you with an ‘outstanding charges notice*’. This will give you the opportunity to make arrangements to pay any outstanding charges before we take further action
- Attempt to contact you through a different communication method
If we fail to do any of the above, we’ll automatically pay you £150. We will make this payment within 20 working days.
If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*This will show the amount of the outstanding charges and how that amount has been calculated, as well as some additional information, such as; property address, if the property is metered, contact information, and any relevant deadlines.
Damage caused by burst mains or leaks
If your property is damaged or flooded because of a burst or leak from a water main, we will clean it up and arrange for an independent appointed loss adjuster to assess your needs and claim. We will reimburse you for clothes stained during washing if it is our fault. If your supply is metered and we agree you need to run water to flush the supply, we will give you £5 towards the water. You need to let us know within 3 months of the incident.
Important information
The intention of this document is to serve as a general guide to the guaranteed standards of service we offer and does not attempt in any way to set out in full our legal obligations to you.
Our payments do not constitute an admission of liability on our part, and if you accept a payment, it does not affect our liability to you. If you require more information, please contact us.
Our guarantees do not apply if we are prevented from meeting our standards as a result of the act or default of a staff member or agent of the company (or someone acting on their behalf) , or exceptional circumstances outside of our control (such as extreme weather conditions, or industrial action by our employees). There are also some other restrictions related to specific standards which are available upon request.
If you’re unhappy with anything in this document, please contact us or you can contact Ofwat – the regulator for water services – directly using the address below:
Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), Centre City Tower, 7 Hill Street, Birmingham, B5 4UA
Contact us
Billing:
Tel: 0345 600 3600
Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00
Sat: 09:00-13:00
Water Supply
Tel: 0345 702 3797
Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00
Sat: 09:00-16:00
Emergency out of hours available
customer.services@bristolwater.co.uk
Write to us:
Bristol Water plc, Bridgwater Road, Bristol, BS13 7AT
Making appointments
If we need to make an appointment to visit you, we will give you notice that we’ll visit during a morning (8am until 12pm) or afternoon (1pm until 4.15pm) slot, or if requested, we will give you a two-hour time slot for when we plan to visit you.
If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £40*. We’ll make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given in case of an emergency, where the customer has cancelled the appointment, an act or default of a person prevents us from keeping the appointment, where we have given at least 24 hours’ notice, or where it’s impossible to keep the appointment due to severe weather.
Keeping appointments
We’ll arrive within the agreed time slot. If we need to rearrange or cancel the appointment, we’ll give you at least 24 hours’ notice.
If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £50*. We’ll make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given in case of an emergency, where the customer has cancelled the appointment, an act or default of a person prevents us from keeping the appointment, where we have given at least 24 hours’ notice, or where it’s impossible to keep the appointment due to severe weather.
Complaints
If you make a complaint, we aim to resolve it within five working days. However, if it requires further investigation, we promise to provide a substantive response to your complaint within 10* working days. If we fail to respond to you within 10 days we will compensate you £40**.
We will make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*The 10-day period begins on the day after the complaint was received.
**Payment may not be given if you have told us you do not wish to continue with the complaint, your complaint is frivolous or vexatious, or your complaint is not considered valid as detailed in our Customer Code of Practice.
Water quality
If there's a problem with the quality of the tap water we supply to you, we'll do everything we can to fix it as quickly as possible. We will also issue a 'restriction of use' notice, if you need to stop using your water temporarily. If we need to issue a notice that covers the following situations, we will automatically pay you £40* for the initial 48-hour period, then £20 for each subsequent full 24-hour period.
- ‘Do not drink’ notice
- ‘Do not use’ notice
- ‘Boil water’ notice
We will make this payment within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be made where the water used for supply was polluted or contaminated by the customer contrary to section 72 or 73 of the Water Industry Act 1991, the water quality notice was served due to drought (or immediately following a period of drought), or where the water supply was cut off or interrupted. The amount someone can receive is capped at the annual water bill amount for the property
Measured charges
If you request to move to measured charging for your water supply at your property, we will begin measuring the supply of water for the purpose of charging within eight weeks (or 56 days) from the date of your application.
If we don’t do this, and the delay is our fault, then we will automatically pay your water charges from the 57th day until we begin to charge by measure.
Payment will not be made if we’re prevented from beginning to measure supply of water for the purposes of charging by the act or default or a person other than the customer (or someone acting on their behalf). Wastewater charges still apply.
Meter reading
In a 13-month period, we will provide you with at least one actual meter reading, which will be used to bill you for the water you’re using.
If we don’t do this, we’ll automatically pay you £40*, then a further £80 for each subsequent full period of 13 months if the water meter remains unread.
We will make any payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given where we’re unable to read the meter through either; the customer refusing access to the premises for purpose of reading the meter, obstruction meaning the meter cannot be read practically or safely, or any other act or default by a person. This standard also does not apply to smart meters.
Bills
If you have enquired about the accuracy of your bill, we’ll respond within five working days of you contacting us, or 10 working days, if a site visit is required. If we fail to do this, we’ll compensate you £40*.
If you request a change in payment method that is not possible, we will respond within five working days. If we fail to do this, we’ll compensate you £40*.
We will make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given if the customer tells they do not wish to continue with the query or request, or an act or default of a person prevents us from responding, or the request is not considered valid.
Priority Services
If, based on your needs, you receive water delivery during an incident, have signed up for alternative formats of communication, or appointed a person to manage your water account on your behalf, you will be added to our Core Priority Services Register (CPSR).
- We will register you to our Core Priority Services Register within 30 calendar days from when we receive your application.
- We will confirm what services you can expect to receive after joining the register and the timescales for these in your welcome letter (otherwise known as an inclusion notice). If you’re not eligible we’ll also let you know
- We’ll communicate with you in your preferred way or speak with your nominated contact on your behalf during an incident
- We’ll deliver bottled water to you in an incident within 12 hours, as promised in your welcome letter
If we fail to do any of the above, we’ll automatically pay you £100.
We will make any payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
Debt collection
We promise to go through your circumstances, and we’ll do our best to support you. However, if we don’t come to an agreement, we will either begin legal proceedings, or provide information to a collection agency.
Before we take any action, we will:
- Provide you with an ‘outstanding charges notice*’. This will give you the opportunity to make arrangements to pay any outstanding charges before we take further action
- Attempt to contact you through a different communication method
If we fail to do any of the above, we’ll automatically pay you £150. We will make this payment within 20 working days.
If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*This will show the amount of the outstanding charges and how that amount has been calculated, as well as some additional information, such as; property address, if the property is metered, contact information, and any relevant deadlines.
Damage caused by burst mains or leaks
If your property is damaged or flooded because of a burst or leak from a water main, we will clean it up and arrange for an independent appointed loss adjuster to assess your needs and claim. We will reimburse you for clothes stained during washing if it is our fault. If your supply is metered and we agree you need to run water to flush the supply, we will give you £5 towards the water. You need to let us know within 3 months of the incident.
Important information
The intention of this document is to serve as a general guide to the guaranteed standards of service we offer and does not attempt in any way to set out in full our legal obligations to you.
Our payments do not constitute an admission of liability on our part, and if you accept a payment, it does not affect our liability to you. If you require more information, please contact us.
Our guarantees do not apply if we are prevented from meeting our standards as a result of the act or default of a staff member or agent of the company (or someone acting on their behalf) , or exceptional circumstances outside of our control (such as extreme weather conditions, or industrial action by our employees). There are also some other restrictions related to specific standards which are available upon request.
If you’re unhappy with anything in this document, please contact us or you can contact Ofwat – the regulator for water services – directly using the address below:
Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), Centre City Tower, 7 Hill Street, Birmingham, B5 4UA
Contact us
Billing:
Tel: 0345 600 3600
Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00
Sat: 09:00-13:00
Water Supply
Tel: 0345 702 3797
Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00
Sat: 09:00-16:00
Emergency out of hours available
customer.services@bristolwater.co.uk
Write to us:
Bristol Water plc, Bridgwater Road, Bristol, BS13 7AT
Making appointments
If we need to make an appointment to visit you, we will give you notice that we’ll visit during a morning (8am until 12pm) or afternoon (1pm until 4.15pm) slot, or if requested, we will give you a two-hour time slot for when we plan to visit you.
If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £40*. We’ll make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given in case of an emergency, where the customer has cancelled the appointment, an act or default of a person prevents us from keeping the appointment, where we have given at least 24 hours’ notice, or where it’s impossible to keep the appointment due to severe weather.
Keeping appointments
We’ll arrive within the agreed time slot. If we need to rearrange or cancel the appointment, we’ll give you at least 24 hours’ notice.
If we fail to do this, we will automatically pay you £50*. We’ll make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given in case of an emergency, where the customer has cancelled the appointment, an act or default of a person prevents us from keeping the appointment, where we have given at least 24 hours’ notice, or where it’s impossible to keep the appointment due to severe weather.
Complaints
If you make a complaint, we aim to resolve it within five working days. However, if it requires further investigation, we promise to provide a substantive response to your complaint within 10* working days. If we fail to respond to you within 10 days we will compensate you £40**.
We will make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*The 10-day period begins on the day after the complaint was received.
**Payment may not be given if you have told us you do not wish to continue with the complaint, your complaint is frivolous or vexatious, or your complaint is not considered valid as detailed in our Customer Code of Practice.
Water quality
If there's a problem with the quality of the tap water we supply to you, we'll do everything we can to fix it as quickly as possible. We will also issue a 'restriction of use' notice, if you need to stop using your water temporarily. If we need to issue a notice that covers the following situations, we will automatically pay you £40* for the initial 48-hour period, then £20 for each subsequent full 24-hour period.
- ‘Do not drink’ notice
- ‘Do not use’ notice
- ‘Boil water’ notice
We will make this payment within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be made where the water used for supply was polluted or contaminated by the customer contrary to section 72 or 73 of the Water Industry Act 1991, the water quality notice was served due to drought (or immediately following a period of drought), or where the water supply was cut off or interrupted. The amount someone can receive is capped at the annual water bill amount for the property
Measured charges
If you request to move to measured charging for your water supply at your property, we will begin measuring the supply of water for the purpose of charging within eight weeks (or 56 days) from the date of your application.
If we don’t do this, and the delay is our fault, then we will automatically pay your water charges from the 57th day until we begin to charge by measure.
Payment will not be made if we’re prevented from beginning to measure supply of water for the purposes of charging by the act or default or a person other than the customer (or someone acting on their behalf). Wastewater charges still apply.
Meter reading
In a 13-month period, we will provide you with at least one actual meter reading, which will be used to bill you for the water you’re using.
If we don’t do this, we’ll automatically pay you £40*, then a further £80 for each subsequent full period of 13 months if the water meter remains unread.
We will make any payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given where we’re unable to read the meter through either; the customer refusing access to the premises for purpose of reading the meter, obstruction meaning the meter cannot be read practically or safely, or any other act or default by a person. This standard also does not apply to smart meters.
Bills
If you have enquired about the accuracy of your bill, we’ll respond within five working days of you contacting us, or 10 working days, if a site visit is required. If we fail to do this, we’ll compensate you £40*.
If you request a change in payment method that is not possible, we will respond within five working days. If we fail to do this, we’ll compensate you £40*.
We will make this payment within 10 working days. If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*Payment will not be given if the customer tells they do not wish to continue with the query or request, or an act or default of a person prevents us from responding, or the request is not considered valid.
Priority Services
If, based on your needs, you receive water delivery during an incident, have signed up for alternative formats of communication, or appointed a person to manage your water account on your behalf, you will be added to our Core Priority Services Register (CPSR).
- We will register you to our Core Priority Services Register within 30 calendar days from when we receive your application.
- We will confirm what services you can expect to receive after joining the register and the timescales for these in your welcome letter (otherwise known as an inclusion notice). If you’re not eligible we’ll also let you know
- We’ll communicate with you in your preferred way or speak with your nominated contact on your behalf during an incident
- We’ll deliver bottled water to you in an incident within 12 hours, as promised in your welcome letter
If we fail to do any of the above, we’ll automatically pay you £100.
We will make any payments within 20 working days. If we don’t, we’ll pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
Debt collection
We promise to go through your circumstances, and we’ll do our best to support you. However, if we don’t come to an agreement, we will either begin legal proceedings, or provide information to a collection agency.
Before we take any action, we will:
- Provide you with an ‘outstanding charges notice*’. This will give you the opportunity to make arrangements to pay any outstanding charges before we take further action
- Attempt to contact you through a different communication method
If we fail to do any of the above, we’ll automatically pay you £150. We will make this payment within 20 working days.
If we don’t, we will pay you an additional £40 for the delay.
*This will show the amount of the outstanding charges and how that amount has been calculated, as well as some additional information, such as; property address, if the property is metered, contact information, and any relevant deadlines.
Damage caused by burst mains or leaks
If your property is damaged or flooded because of a burst or leak from a water main, we will clean it up and arrange for an independent appointed loss adjuster to assess your needs and claim. We will reimburse you for clothes stained during washing if it is our fault. If your supply is metered and we agree you need to run water to flush the supply, we will give you £5 towards the water. You need to let us know within 3 months of the incident.
Important information
The intention of this document is to serve as a general guide to the guaranteed standards of service we offer and does not attempt in any way to set out in full our legal obligations to you.
Our payments do not constitute an admission of liability on our part, and if you accept a payment, it does not affect our liability to you. If you require more information, please contact us.
Our guarantees do not apply if we are prevented from meeting our standards as a result of the act or default of a staff member or agent of the company (or someone acting on their behalf) , or exceptional circumstances outside of our control (such as extreme weather conditions, or industrial action by our employees). There are also some other restrictions related to specific standards which are available upon request.
If you’re unhappy with anything in this document, please contact us or you can contact Ofwat – the regulator for water services – directly using the address below:
Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), Centre City Tower, 7 Hill Street, Birmingham, B5 4UA
Contact us
Billing:
Tel: 0345 600 3600
Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00
Sat: 09:00-13:00
Water Supply
Tel: 0345 702 3797
Mon-Fri: 08:00-18:00
Sat: 09:00-16:00
Emergency out of hours available
customer.services@bristolwater.co.uk
Write to us:
Bristol Water plc, Bridgwater Road, Bristol, BS13 7AT
Don't forget...
If your property is damaged or flooded because of a burst or leak from a water main, we will offer to clean up and arrange for our appointed loss adjuster to assess your needs and claim. We will recompense you for clothes stained during washing if it was our fault. If your supply is metered and we agree you need to run water to flush the supply, we will make an allowance of £5. You need to let us know within 3 months.
