Moving house with Essex & Suffolk Water: register, meters and help

• ✓CCW lists Essex & Suffolk Water's area as Essex and Suffolk.
• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: you do not need to tell it you are moving if you pay your water bill with your rent to your landlord.
• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: its new customer form asks for your name, date of birth, phone number and email address, and you can add another person over 16 to share responsibility for the account.
• ✓Ofwat: under the current legislation, household customers are not able to change their water supplier or sewerage service provider. The company that supplies your property depends on where you live.

Sources: Essex & Suffolk Water: moving home, new customer form (read 13 October 2026); CCW: find your water company (read 13 October 2026); CCW: what if I move to a property with a meter? (read 13 October 2026); Ofwat: changing supplier (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: with a meter you only pay for the water you use, not your home's rateable value, and you receive bills every six months instead of once a year.
• ✓Anglian Water: Essex & Suffolk Water customers used to get two bills, one for water and one from Anglian Water for sewerage. The companies combined them, so Essex & Suffolk Water now sends one bill for both and you pay both charges to it.
• ✓Ofwat: if you do not have a water meter, your bill is not based on how much water you use. It is usually a fixed charge plus a charge based on the rateable value of your home, a valuation last updated in 1990.
• ✓CCW: if your new home already has a water meter, you must pay metered charges based on your usage and you cannot switch to an unmetered bill. Take a reading as soon as you move in.
• ✓CCW: a water company can install a meter when you move in, but not if you have already received an unmetered bill for that property. It tells you when you report the move.
• ✓Ofwat: you may receive your water supply from one company and your sewerage services from another, which means you may get two separate bills.

Sources: Essex & Suffolk Water: apply for a meter (read 13 October 2026); Anglian Water: changes to Essex & Suffolk Water bills (read 13 October 2026); Ofwat: unmetered customers (read 13 October 2026); CCW: what if I move to a property with a meter? (read 13 October 2026); CCW: can my water company install a meter before I move in? (read 13 October 2026); Ofwat: your water company (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: water companies can install meters in areas the Environment Agency classifies as seriously water stressed, so a customer cannot refuse a meter or object to the type of meter. It aims to give all its customers a smart meter by 2035.
• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: a meter you ask for is free to install as long as it can be fitted in its preferred location, and from 1 October 2025 it aims to fit it within 56 days. If it takes longer, it removes the water charges from day 57 until the meter is fitted.
• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: if you rent and pay your water bill directly to it, you do not need your landlord's permission for a meter, citing the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Your tenancy agreement may still require permission for alterations.
• ✓Ofwat: household customers in England and Wales can choose to have a meter fitted in their homes free of charge. If a meter cannot be fitted, the company must offer an assessed charge instead.
• ✓Ofwat: in England, where the company is legally obliged to act on your request, it must begin measuring your supply within eight weeks of the day you ask.
• ✓CCW: you can usually switch back to the unmetered charge within two years if you are unhappy with the change, except for customers in areas of England where compulsory metering is introduced. Where the company publishes its own rule, as above, that is the one to go by.
• ✓CCW: you can ask for a water meter to be fitted if you rent your home in England.

Sources: Essex & Suffolk Water: smart water meter FAQs (read 13 October 2026); Essex & Suffolk Water: apply for a meter (read 13 October 2026); Ofwat: metered customers and applying for metered charges (read 13 October 2026); Ofwat: assessed charges (read 13 October 2026); CCW: should I get a water meter fitted? (read 13 October 2026); CCW: can I ask for a water meter if I rent my home? (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: if your household income is less than £30,000 or you receive Pension Credit, it may be able to reduce your bill by up to 50%.
• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: if you do not have enough money coming in to cover your most important bills, it may be able to lower your payments by up to 50%.
• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water also lists flexible payment plans, payment breaks, Water Direct and a WaterSure bill cap scheme, with an online form to check what you are eligible for.
• ✓CCW: every water company has a social tariff scheme which can help reduce your bills if you are on a low income, and who is eligible and the level of support varies depending on your water company.
• ✓CCW: WaterSure caps the water and sewerage bill of customers on a water meter who receive an income-related benefit and either get child benefit for three or more children under 19 or use extra water because of a medical condition.
• ✓GOV.UK: a WaterSure reform is set to come into force in early 2027. People on disability benefits become eligible where household income is below £25,745 a year, the cap moves to the lowest possible average bill, and the paid-for doctor's note goes. Scheduled, not yet in force.

Sources: Essex & Suffolk Water: financial support (read 13 October 2026); CCW: help with bills (read 13 October 2026); CCW: what is WaterSure? (read 13 October 2026); GOV.UK: reduced bills for around 300,000 households in WaterSure reform (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Essex & Suffolk Water: its contact page asks what you need help with and gives the way to get in touch. Logging in lets you tell it you are moving, make payments and give meter readings.
• ✓CCW: the homeowner is responsible for maintaining the water pipes on private property up to the boundary of the road. The water main, the connection up to your boundary, the outside stop tap and the meter are the company's.
• ✓Ofwat: companies are required by their licences to reimburse the cost of water lost through leakage by way of credits to your bill, a leakage allowance that can apply to water and wastewater charges. You can only claim once the leak has been repaired, and it can be refused if you did not arrange the repair within the company's timeframe.
• ✓CCW: complain to the company first and give it a chance to put things right. If it does not reply within 10 working days you may be entitled to a Guaranteed Standards Scheme payment. CCW can take the complaint on once you have a final response or have waited eight weeks, and its service is free.

Sources: Essex & Suffolk Water: contact us (read 13 October 2026); CCW: who is responsible for my water pipes? (read 13 October 2026); Ofwat: metered customers and applying for metered charges (read 13 October 2026); CCW: make a complaint (read 13 October 2026)

• ✓Taupia keeps the Essex & Suffolk Water account next to your energy, broadband and mobile: what it costs, when it is due, and each housemate's share on the rule your household sets.
• ✓For energy, broadband and mobile, Taupia compares your tariff against the market and lines up a switch when one is worth it. Water is monitored only, because it cannot be switched.
• ✓Taupia is free. You pay the water company directly, as you always have, and nothing changes without your approval.