The glass above shows all the how money from your bill pays for running services and investments for the future.
Running our operations and maintaining our assets
We operate thousands of miles of pipes, treatment works, pumping stations and reservoirs. Your bill helps maintain, repair and operate this infrastructure so it stays reliable and resilient.
Energy
Treating, pumping and transporting water and wastewater requires significant energy. Your payments help cover these energy costs so we can keep water moving efficiently across our network.
People
A portion of your bill supports the dedicated teams who keep water services running around the clock. This includes specialists who treat and test water, maintain networks, respond to emergencies, and deliver customer service.
Rates, licences, abstraction fees
We pay the government and regulators for the right to take water from the environment, to fund the water industry regulators, as well as business rates on our sites. This ensures water is managed responsibly and sustainably.
Investing in long term improvements
Part of your bill funds essential long-term projects such as upgrading treatment works, investment in water storage and reducing leakage, to meet future needs and environmental goals.
Funding investment in our infrastructure
Large-scale infrastructure improvements require significant capital investment. If we funded this through customer bills, it would lead to significantly higher prices for customers now, whilst customers in the future – who benefit from the investment – may end up with lower bills. Instead, we raise funds from shareholders and lenders and in return for the upfront funds, customer bills help to pay them a return over time – the same as you would do with a house mortgage through your interest payments. This means the cost to customers is matched with the benefit of the improved services customers receive.
Shareholders receive their return through dividends, and many of our shareholders are pension funds, which are providing retirement income to those invested. Ofwat regulates both the return paid to debt investors through interest, and dividends to shareholders, and ensure that we only pay dividends when our customer, environmental and financial performance allows.
This financing model means we can fund improvements in the near term and spread the cost over the longer term, helping to keep customer bills down while we continue to replace ageing pipes, build new facilities, and prepare for the impacts of climate change.