Save money on your bill Read how on page 3 Our services to you
Helping your life flow smoothly We re United Utilities - keeping the water flowing and toilets flushing for our seven million customers across the North West every day. We all like to make savings on our household bills. Follow our hints and tips starting on page 3 and you might be surprised how easy it is to reduce your water bill. We think it s a good thing to understand exactly what you pay for and on pages 6 and 7 we explain more about your bill. Water may fall from the sky for free, but it s cleaning it and getting it to your home through our network of 40,000km of pipes - and taking away and cleaning all your used water - that we charge you for. We all have times in our life when we need a bit of extra help, be it due to age, ill health, disability, mental health problems, financial worries or language barriers. Registering for Priority Services is free and means you ll benefit from a range of additional services to support your particular needs. You can read more on page 9. We re proud of the services we provide, so you won t be surprised to know that if something falls short of our promised standards we ll do everything we can to put it right. The standards of service you can expect to receive from us are shown on pages 10 and 11. We can only tell you a fraction about what we do in this leaflet, so why not visit us at unitedutilities.com? We ve included web links throughout this guide to point you in the right direction. Louise Beardmore Customer Services Director Sign Tap into up for your My account Account With our FREE online My Account service you can access your account 24/7 to: - Pay your bill - Set up a Direct Debit - Sign up for paperless billing - Update your personal details - Give a meter reading Log in to My Account now at unitedutilities.com/myaccount Contacting us Please visit unitedutilities.com/help-and-support if you need to contact us. If you would prefer to call, your bill contains all our contact numbers.
Save money on your bills Making a saving on your future bills could be easier than you think. Here are a few things to consider to help you save the pounds. Knock 5 off your bill with Direct Debit One of the simplest ways to make a saving is to set up a Direct Debit - we ll knock 5 off your water bill every year for paying in this way. You can set one up on our website at unitedutilities.com/directdebit or by calling us on 0345 672 2999. SECTION 1 SAVING MONEY Don t let your money go down the drain As you pay for all the water you use, it makes good financial sense to make sure you re not letting it leak away. The problem unless you ve got water pouring through your ceiling is that leaks are good at hiding. Check overflows (which are those pipes which stick out through the outside walls of your house) to see if any water is dripping out of them. Also, modern toilet cisterns tend to overflow into the toilet bowl rather than outside, so check these carefully. Our leaflet How to check your water usage contains lots of information about how to spot leaks in your home. Visit unitedutilities.com/leaflets to download this leaflet. Watch those savings grow Gardens don t need high-quality tap water to be at their blooming best so why not collect all that lovely rainwater in a water butt instead? Your flower beds won t know the difference and you can even use the water to wash your car. If we ve whet your appetite for making water savings, we have lots more information on our website. Visit unitedutilities.com/watertight Did you know A garden sprinkler can use as much water in an hour as a family of four will use in a day. A watering can does the job and uses a lot less water too. 3
SECTION 1 SAVING MONEY Save pounds when you use water wisely Saving water around the home and garden is good for the environment and your bank balance too. As you have a water meter installed in your home, your bill is based on how much water you use so getting handy with your H 2O will reduce your bills. Not letting taps run, fixing leaks, having a shower instead of a bath these small savings soon start to add up over the year. Using less water can also have a positive effect on your gas and electricity bills too. Around 16 per cent of your energy bills pay for heating water in your home - that s an average of 228 per year to heat water for various activities such as baths, showers, washing machines and dishwashers. A few simple tweaks to your daily routine could soon send your energy bills tumbling. Being water efficient in this way is also good news for the planet, as you re doing your bit to reduce carbon emissions. See how much water you could save Our online calculator provides lots of hints and tips on how to use water wisely in the home and garden. Visit unitedutilities.com/water-calculator to give it a try - you might be surprised how much you could save. Order FREE water saving items We have some fantastic freebies to help with your watersaving efforts, including devices for your taps and toilet cisterns. They are easy to fit and will help to reduce the amount of water used in the home. Visit unitedutilities.com/watertight for full details. 4 Your water quality If you re interested in the quality of your drinking water, we have a great tool on our website which is free to use. Just enter your postcode and we ll tell you where your water comes from, as well as its hardness and other water quality information. Just visit unitedutilities.com/ waterquality. If you don t have access to the internet, you can request this information by writing to: United Utilities, Customer Services, PO Box 453, Lingley Green Avenue, Warrington, WA55 1SE. For practical advice on how to keep your tap water in tip-top condition visit unitedutilities.com/waterquality and download our Caring for water in your home booklet.
Does rainwater from your property drain to a public sewer? Part of your bill pays for us to remove all that lovely rainwater that falls on your property (we explain more about the services we charge you for on page 6). However, if your home is not connected to the public sewer to drain away your rainwater (for example, your surface water drains to a soakaway instead), we can reduce your bill. For more information and to download a claim form visit unitedutilities.com/ surface-water-drainage SECTION 1 SAVING MONEY Leaks on your water supply pipe what you can do Legally your outside water supply pipe is your responsibility to repair, but we like to help out where we can. We currently offer a private leak repair scheme, which means that in certain cases, we are able to repair a leak on your supply pipe free of charge. And if your charges are based on a meter reading you may also be eligible to claim the cost of the water lost. Visit unitedutilities.com/bursthome for full details. Leak Spotters Spotted a leak on the road or street? Give us a call on 0800 330033 and we ll sort it! 5
Your bill explained We think it s a good thing to know exactly what you pay for in life, and your water bill is no exception. We ve made our bills easier to understand but we re aware that some of the terminology - such as cubic metres, surface water drainage and standing charges - can be confusing. So here s a summary of what you pay us for, avoiding all the jargon. What you pay for In simple terms you pay us for the following services: SECTION 2 - YOUR BILL EXPLAINED Supplying clean water to your home Taking away all your used water (which we call sewerage services), cleaning it and returning it to rivers and the sea* Taking away rainwater that falls on your home and the roads (we call these services surface water/highway drainage )** You also pay us a standing charge for essential services such as reading your meter, sending bills and dealing with enquiries. As you have a meter, both your water charges AND your sewerage services charges are based on your meter reading, which means your charges are based on what you use. Both of these charges are shown on your bill as Volume charges. Taking away rainwater is a fixed annual charge and is not based on your meter reading. 6 * if you can show that more than five per cent of the water we supply to your home does not return to our sewer, you can claim a reduction on your sewerage charges. Visit unitedutilities.com/ application-forms to download our non-return to sewer claim form for household customers. ** please visit unitedutilities.com/sewers-and-drains-explained for a detailed explanation of responsibilities regarding drains and sewers.
Reading your meter Your meter records your water use in cubic metres. When you look at your meter, you ll see a line of black and white numbers, and red and white dials or numbers. Only the black and white numbers are used to calculate your bill, as these record cubic metres. In simple terms, a cubic metre is 1,000 litres of water, and we charge you for every cubic metre (m 3 ) of water you use in the home. A cubic metre provides enough water for: 1m 3 (One cubic metre) = 13 baths, or 14 washing machine loads, or 28 showers, or 111 toilet flushes, or 3,300 cuppas The cost for each cubic metre of water is less than 3 and that includes delivering the water to your home and taking away and cleaning all your used water too. Don t forget, your total bill also includes the fixed and standing charges we ve explained opposite. Our charges for the year ahead change on 1st April and are available on our website at unitedutilities.com/my-bill We try to read your meter every six months, but if we ve been unable to, your bill will be estimated. Don t worry, if you receive an estimated bill you can always update your meter reading online and we will then send you an amended bill. If you are registered for My Account you can do this by logging in to your account at unitedutilities.com/ myaccount. Alternatively visit unitedutilities.com/ submit-a-meter-reading or call us on the number shown on your bill. SECTION 2 - YOUR BILL EXPLAINED Try out our interactive bill... We also have an interactive bill on our website that explains each element of your charges in simple terms. Visit unitedutilities.com/ interactive-bill to try it out. 7
Support when you need it SECTION 3 - SUPPORT WHEN YOU NEED IT 8 We all need a bit of help sometimes, so keep a note of these numbers for when you need to call. Difficulty paying your bill? If you re going through a tough financial patch and finding it hard to meet your payments, please get in touch on 0800 072 6765. We re easy to talk to, and we have a range of support schemes: Arrears allowance scheme: If you ve already built up a lot of debt, this scheme could help you get back on track. If we accept you onto this scheme, for every 1 you pay off your debt, we ll put in 1 too, helping you to clear your debt twice as quickly. Water Direct: If you are in debt and receive incomebased Jobseekers Allowance, Income Support, Universal Credit, Pension Credit or income-related Employment and Support Allowance, you can ask the Department for Work and Pensions to pay your water bill directly to us out of your benefit. United Utilities Trust Fund: If you are in real financial difficulty and have nowhere else to turn, you may qualify for a grant to pay off your debt giving you the fresh start you need. Help to Pay: if you receive Pension Credit and are struggling to pay your bill, you may be eligible to apply. If accepted on to the scheme we will cap your bill at a fixed amount for the year. Please visit unitedutilities.com/difficulty-paying-bill for more information about our range of support schemes. If you re struggling to pay your bill, please call us on 0800 072 6765 so we can help. Please also get in touch if you have moved to Universal Credit and your new arrangements are causing any payment issues. Don t worry, everything you tell us is strictly confidential. Remember these golden rules: Don t panic Don t ignore the problem Don t borrow more money to pay off what you owe, this is unlikely to help Make sure you are receiving all of your benefit entitlements Be very careful of fee-charging debt management companies Get some professional advice on dealing with your debts For further information on the support we can provide, please visit unitedutilities.com/my-bill
Help when you need it most We can all benefit from a bit of extra help at some stage in our lives. This could be due to age, ill-health, disability, mental health problems, financial worries or language barriers. Registering for Priority Services is free and it means that you will benefit from additional services to support your particular needs. So if you, or someone you know, would appreciate a little bit of extra help, please call us for a chat on 0345 072 6093 or visit unitedutilities.com/ priorityservices Don t fall victim to doorstep crime If we have to call at your home, all of our employees carry a photo ID and will be happy to wait outside while you call us on 0345 672 3723 to check their details. Criminals sometimes trick their way into homes pretending to be from United Utilities or the water board. To make sure this doesn t happen to you, why not register for our password scheme? Once registered, we ll quote your password to you if we have to call at your home giving you the confidence that the person at the door really is genuine. You can set up a password at unitedutilities.com/register-password or call 0345 072 6093. Financial help if you use a lot of water If you receive income-related benefits or tax credits and either have a big family, or have someone in your home with a medical condition which means you use a lot of water, you may qualify for our WaterSure scheme. If you qualify we ll cap your annual water charges in line with the average household bill amount. Visit unitedutilities. com/watersure to find out more. You can also order an information pack by calling our automated leaflet line on 0800 980 6050. SECTION 3 - SUPPORT WHEN YOU NEED IT 9
OUR PROMISES TO YOU Our promises to you You deserve the very best when it comes to your water and wastewater services. This section sets out the standards of service you can expect to receive from us and what we ll do if things go wrong. Some of these standards, known as the Guaranteed Standards Scheme, are laid down by law. We ll always do what we can to go beyond these standards. Your bill We ll respond to written contacts about the correctness of your account within 10 working days of receipt. If we fail to do this we ll automatically pay you 20 We ll deal with your written request for a change to your payment arrangement within five working days of receipt. If we fail to do this we ll automatically pay you 20 If you ve paid in full and on time in the way we ve asked you to, and we make a mistake and the court issues a summons or county court judgement, you can claim compensation of 150 Keeping appointments We ll agree with you whether it will be a morning or afternoon appointment. We ll also confirm the earliest and latest times we ll arrive. If you need a more specific time, we can offer you an appointment within a two-hour time band If we fail to tell you that your appointment is for the morning, the afternoon or within a specific two-hour time band, we ll automatically pay you 25 We ll give you 24 hours notice to cancel any agreed appointment. If we don t we ll automatically pay you 25 If we turn up early, late or not at all for your agreed appointment we ll automatically pay you 25 Written complaints We ll respond to written complaints about your water and wastewater services within 10 working days of receiving your letter, email or fax. If we don t do this we ll automatically pay you 25 Water supply being turned off because of planned work When carrying out work on the mains we ll give you written notice of the times between which we expect your water supply to be cut off If the water is to be off for more than four hours, we ll give you written notice at least 48 hours in advance. If we fail to do this we ll automatically pay you 25 If we identify that we ve failed to restore your water supply within the times we ve told you in the written notice we ll automatically pay you 25 plus another 10 for every additional 12 hour period we leave you without water If we restore your supply by the times we ve told you in the written notice, but your water has been cut off for more than 12 hours, you can claim 20 plus another 10 for every additional 12 hours that we leave you without water Water supply going off because of an emergency or burst pipe Where water mains have burst, we aim to restore your supply within 12 hours. If we identify that we ve failed to get your supply back on within 12 hours, we ll automatically pay you 25 plus another 10 for every additional 12 hour period that we leave you without water Repairs to major trunk mains (known as strategic mains) may take longer. If we identify that we ve failed to get your supply back on within 48 hours, we ll automatically pay you 25 plus another 10 for every additional 12 hour period we leave you without water Where we re repairing our major trunk mains we ll make other sources of water available to you (such as water tankers in the street) within 12 hours. If we fail to do so, you can claim compensation to the value of 20 Water pressure If the water pressure in the communication pipe to your property falls below seven metres static head twice within a four week period (each time for longer than an hour) you can claim 50 once per year. In simple terms, this means the water pressure should be powerful enough to fill a 4.5 litre
(1 gallon) container in 30 seconds. If we re aware of this problem we ll pay this automatically. This doesn t apply if the drop in pressure is because of restrictions due to drought or because of required work to resolve an emergency such as a burst main, planned works on our water mains or problems on your own pipework Sewer flooding Where the flooding from sewers enters your home we ll automatically pay a sum equal to your sewerage charge for the year (minimum payment 150 up to a maximum of 1,000 per incident) In addition to this sum we ll automatically pay you up to 100 for the disturbance the flooding causes. We ll determine the amount payable on a case-by-case basis We ll consider making a contribution to your uninsured losses where the flooding has caused damage to your home and contents If you have critical health related circumstances at the time of the flooding and need to move into temporary accommodation we ll consider making a discretionary payment of up to 50 per day, up to a maximum of 500 towards your costs Where the flooding from sewers enters only your land or garden, you can claim back a sum equal to half of your sewerage charges for the year (minimum payment 75 up to a maximum of 500 per incident). Your claim will only be valid if you were materially affected by the flooding incident to your land or garden. You will therefore need to show or explain the effect of the sewer flooding on your land or garden when you make a claim. Normally, we ll make this assessment when we visit to view the flooding and we ll leave a claim form with you if we consider you ve been materially affected. We only accept written claims for external flooding and will assess your claim based upon the information you provide You cannot claim a payment for sewer flooding to your land or garden if you are entitled to an automatic payment for sewer flooding inside your home for the same incident Emergency drought interruptions to supply If you re a household customer and we ve turned off your water supply because of emergency drought restrictions we ll pay 10 for each day or part day you are without water. The maximum we ll pay is equal to the amount of the average household water bill for the previous year. Exclusions There are times when our levels of service cannot be met or the compensation scheme does not apply. The reasons vary from standard to standard, but they include us not meeting the standards because of circumstances beyond our control. These might be things such as unexpected weather conditions, the actions of a third party or industrial action. The standards and the exclusions which apply to the Guaranteed Standards Scheme are laid down in The Water Supply and Sewerage Services (Customer Service Standards) Regulations 2008. Visit unitedutilities.com/standards-of-service for further information on all of our guaranteed standards of service. Compensation arrangements Normally where we compensate you automatically we ll do so within ten working days of the failure occurring. If we fail to do so you can claim a further 10 Where we compensate you automatically for a supply interruption or for sewage flooding, we ll do so within 20 working days. If we fail to do so we ll automatically pay you a further 20 If we fail to make an automatic compensation payment, as we were not practically able to identify you as being affected, you can make a claim for payment within three months When you make a claim, we treat it on its merits and we aim to settle it within 20 working days. If you wish to make a claim, you should do so either via the telephone or in writing within three months of the event giving rise to the claim If you re more than six weeks behind with paying your water services charges we ll automatically take the compensation payment off the amount you owe to us OUR PROMISES TO YOU
Find out more You may be interested in our other leaflets, which include: A guide to using water wisely Our Priority Services WaterSure application pack Our leakage code of practice A guide to paying your water bill Our standards of service Debt recovery: our code of practice Testing your household water meter Our complaints procedure We translate our most frequently requested leaflets into Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati, Chinese, Bengali and Punjabi. You can download these at unitedutilities.com/ translations You can download our leaflets at unitedutilities.com/leaflets We re here to help Please call us on the number shown on your bill if you ve experienced any issues with the services you ve received from us. We ll do all we can to put things right as quickly as possible. Please visit unitedutilities.com/ complaints-procedure for full details. You can call our automated leaflet request line on 0800 980 6050 for our most frequently requested leaflets You can also write to us at : United Utilities, PO Box 459, Warrington WA55 1WB If you have hearing or speech difficulties and use a textphone, please dial 18001 followed by the number you require. Important - how we manage your personal details Your personal information is very important and this is why we are careful with the information we collect and process about you. We use credit reference agency (CRA) data, trace and debt collection agencies and other third parties to supplement your details, carry out an identity and verification check as well as trace and locate customers including non-payers to assist us in appropriately managing your account. This will involve passing your information to one or more of the above. Debt collection searches and/or trace searches will leave a footprint on your credit file. We also share how you manage your payments and whether you pay us or not with CRAs (and where fraud is suspected, fraud prevention agencies (FPAs)). If you miss or make late payments we will also share this information and an outstanding balance with the CRAs. If you fail to pay us or keep up to date with your agreed payment arrangement then your account will be deemed to be in default. We will issue you a Notice of Intention to Default letter giving you a deadline date to make the required payment. If you do not make this payment by the due date, we will let the CRAs know and a default will be registered on your credit file. We share information on existing and new accounts. Sharing missed or late payments and/or default information, as well as debt search footprints and/or County Court Judgment (CCJ) information (if we have applied to the courts for a CCJ) with CRAs may affect your ability to gain credit. Records remain on CRA files for six years after they are closed, whether the debt has been settled or not. CRAs (and FPAs) may supply this information to other organisations to perform similar checks, to trace your whereabouts, recover any debts you may owe and help determine whether to provide credit to you. To assist us in managing your account, we may also buy in data from reputable organisations. Calls are recorded for quality, training, service and security purposes. Please visit unitedutilities.com/personaldetails for further information or call our general enquiries number shown on your enclosed bill to discuss your account. 10/16/SD/6718a