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Billing by Rateable Value
If you’re not on a water meter, it’s likely that you’re billed according to your property’s Rateable Value.
Understanding Rateable Value
If you’re not on a water meter, it’s likely that you’re billed according to your property’s Rateable value.
Rateable Value is a fixed amount, assessed and set District Valuer’s office of the Inland Revenue between 1963 and 1990. Each property built before 1990 has a Rateable Value.
The Rateable Value was based on the size and condition of the home, and the availability of local services, and other factors like the view from the property.
They were an assessment of the annual rental value of a property and helped local councils calculate the amount of local tax a household would pay.
The way local taxes were calculated changed in 1990, and Rateable Value was no longer used. This means that any changes to the property since then will not be taken into account.
This can include changes like:
- extensions
- garage of loft conversions
- a change in the amount of people living there
Your property may have been last assessed as long ago as 1973 and it isn't possible to appeal or re-assess your home’s Rateable Value.
Because of this, Rateable Value is not always an accurate way of fairly representing your water use.
Council Tax bands are more frequently updated, but we’re not legally allowed to use Council Tax bands to calculate water bills.
Switching to a water meter
The most accurate way for you to pay fairly for the water you use is to be billed using a water meter. You can switch to a water meter for free.
It costs nothing to install and you can trial it for a year. If you feel like a water meter isn’t right for you, you can switch back to unmetered bills at any point during that year.
It’s not always possible to fit a water meter at a property. If this is the case for you, we’ll talk to you about your options for other forms of unmetered billing.
How we use Rateable Value to calculate your bill
To calculate Rateable Value bills, we multiply the property's Rateable Value by the tariff charge. This provides the total annual bill amount.
If the size of the property, or the amount of people living in it, has changed since April 1990, the Rateable Value may not be accurate.
You may benefit from cheaper bills if you switch to a water meter.
