Moving house with Southern Water: register, meters and help

• ✓CCW lists Southern Water's area as Kent, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, and East and West Sussex.
• ✓Southern Water: if you have just moved into its area, the best way to manage your water is an online account. Have your new address and move-in date ready.
• ✓Southern Water: if you are moving within its area, update your details online with your old and new addresses and your moving dates. If you are leaving, notify it up to 30 days before or 90 days after your move.
• ✓Southern Water: to check whether your new home is on a meter or on rates, contact it directly, look for a meter at the property or ask the previous owner. Landlords use its Landlord and Tenant Address Portal.
• ✓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: Southern Water: tell us you're moving (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)

• ✓Southern Water: it usually charges you based on your meter reading, which tells it how much water you have used and how much wastewater it takes away. Most of its customers have meters.
• ✓Southern Water: when you do not have a water meter, your water rates may be based on the number of bedrooms in your property, or on whether someone is a sole occupant.
• ✓Southern Water also has wastewater-only customers, whose water is supplied by another company.
• ✓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: Southern Water: how we calculate your bill (read 13 October 2026); Southern Water: what if I can't pay my bill? (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)

• ✓Southern Water: you can apply for a meter with its online form. Tenants must be the bill payer, and the form asks tenants with less than six months on their tenancy whether they have the landlord's permission.
• ✓CCW (April 2016): customers of Southern Water, South East Water, Affinity Water and Thames Water do not have the option to switch back to unmeasured charges, because of those companies' compulsory metering programmes.
• ✓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: Southern Water: apply for a water meter (read 13 October 2026); CCW: millions of households given more time to trial a water meter (April 2016) (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)

• ✓Southern Water: Essentials gives a discount of at least 45% on future water bills to households with an income under £22,020, or where everyone in the household receives Pension Credit. The water discount runs from 45% to 90% depending on income, and wastewater charges get 45%.
• ✓Southern Water: from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027 the WaterSure charge limit is £759 for water and wastewater customers, £354 for water-only customers and £405 for wastewater-only customers.
• ✓Southern Water: Water Direct lets Jobcentre Plus take a fixed amount from your benefits if you owe more than £50, and NewStart matches the payments you make towards a debt under an agreed plan.
• ✓Southern Water: you apply online with your account number, details of your income and your National Insurance number.
• ✓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: Southern Water: what if I can't pay my bill? (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)

• ✓Southern Water: its contact page offers a chat with its digital assistant or team, WhatsApp messaging, and billing and account calls charged at a local rate, Monday to Friday 8am to 6pm.
• ✓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: Southern 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 Southern 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.