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News Centre > Monday 26 November 2018

Guernsey Water provides user pays options for customers on private water supplies

Rebalance

Guernsey Water is working with customers on private water supplies to offer fair, user pays options, ahead of it's water and wastewater charge rebalancing which comes into effect on 1 January 2019.

Following an announcement by the utility earlier this year regarding plans to freeze bills and rebalance water and wastewater charges, Guernsey Water has confirmed it has been working with 135 customers who currently have their own private water supply and therefore only pay for a wastewater service.

Phil Marquis, Customer Service Manager at Guernsey Water said: "These customers will be experiencing an increase in their 2019 quarterly bills as they will not benefit from a reduction in water supply charges. It has therefore been important for us to offer these customers options, in order to ensure everyone is able to opt into user pays billing"

One option is to apply for a meter to be fitted, free of charge, on their private water supply. This will enable Guernsey Water to charge customers based on the standard calculation of water used, rather than the TRP of the property, as is currently the case.

Mr Marquis said: "One of the issues we have had to contend with in order to make this option available to customers, is making changes to legislation. Current legislation does not allow Guernsey Water to fit meters onto private supplies for the purpose of charging. We have worked together with the law officers to ensure we are able to lawfully provide this service to customers"

Guernsey Water is also introducing a network extension program, this will allow customers to connect on to Guernsey Water's main at a standard connection rate providing the extension cost is not prohibitive to Guernsey Water. This will give those who have previously been unable to connect due to location, the option to join up to the public water supply.

Guernsey Water hosted four drop in sessions for affected customers following the news of the rebalance in order to discuss customer concerns and advise them of their options moving forward. Mr Marquis confirmed that all affected customers have also been written to individually in order to make them aware of their options ahead of 2019.

The legislation regarding the metering of private supplies will go before the States of Guernsey for approval in December 2018. New charges are due to commence for all customers from 1 January 2019.

To learn more about the charges rebalance, example bills and bill calculator visit our Rebalance page below.

Learn More About Guernsey Water's Rebalance

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