Moving house with Severn Trent Water: register, meters and help

• ✓Severn Trent: its region stretches from the Bristol Channel to the Humber, and from the Welsh border to the East Midlands. It suggests Water UK's postcode checker to confirm it supplies your water, wastewater or both.
• ✓Severn Trent: if you are moving in as a new customer, you can set up your account online. Existing customers can update their details or close the account.
• ✓Severn Trent: have your old and new addresses ready, along with final meter readings for both properties.
• ✓Severn Trent: students who share charges with housemates can get its help setting up 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: Severn Trent: moving home (read 13 October 2026); Severn Trent: our supply area (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)

• ✓Severn Trent: if you are not on a water meter, it is likely you are billed according to your property's rateable value.
• ✓Severn Trent: rateable values were set by the District Valuer's office between 1963 and 1990, so later changes such as extensions, loft conversions or a change in the number of people living there are not reflected. It is not possible to appeal or reassess a rateable value.
• ✓Severn Trent: it is not legally allowed to use council tax bands to calculate water bills.
• ✓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.

Sources: Severn Trent: billing by rateable value (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)

• ✓Severn Trent: it supplies and fits water meters free of charge in nearly all cases, and you can choose to switch at any time.
• ✓Severn Trent: contact it within 12 months of the meter being installed, or within 30 days of your second bill, to change back to unmetered charges. The meter stays in place.
• ✓Severn Trent: you cannot go back to unmetered charges if it fitted the meter under its compulsory metering scheme, or if you moved into a property that already had a meter.
• ✓Severn Trent: tenants in a tenancy of more than six months do not need the landlord's permission for a meter. With less than six months in occupation, you need the landlord's permission.
• ✓Severn Trent: it is running trials to move some customers onto a measured bill automatically, where suitable.
• ✓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: Severn Trent: metering installation policy (read 13 October 2026); Severn Trent: a smarter way to use water (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)

• ✓Severn Trent: the Big Difference Scheme can reduce the bill of any customer with a household income below £24,454, by up to £411 a year. Households with child dependants may get an additional income allowance.
• ✓Severn Trent: the scheme runs for 12 months at a time, comes with a payment plan that includes any arrears, and is reported to credit reference agencies. You need evidence of household income to apply.
• ✓Severn Trent: to get WaterSure you need a water meter and eligible benefits, and either three or more children under 19 you receive child benefit for, or a medical condition that needs extra water. It runs for 12 months.
• ✓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: Severn Trent: Big Difference Scheme (read 13 October 2026); Severn Trent: WaterSure Bill Cap Scheme (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)

• ✓Severn Trent: if your property is brand new or sits on the border of the Water UK search results, it may not show in its region, and Severn Trent asks you to contact its team.
• ✓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: Severn Trent: our supply area (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 Severn Trent 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.