Coronavirus: latest information for our customers and how we can help you.

We want to reassure you that we’re keeping our core services going for you, while we maintain the safety and wellbeing of all our teams during the current time.

We know it's a difficult time for many businesses. If your business is closed, reopening, or operating as normal, please let us know if you have any concerns about your water account and we'll talk to you about how we can help. You can get in touch with us by phone, 0345 072 6072, or email, using the address on your bill. 

How we can help you

 



 

 

 

We can help with water charges if your site is closed temporarily

If your business site is in England: you can have a charges holiday from 16 March 2020, or the date your business site closed if after this date. We’ll mark your premises as temporarily vacant and put your account on hold. Your water charges will stop for now, unless water is used on your business premises.

If your business site is in Scotland:  you can apply for a deferral scheme to have some of your water charges postponed from 24 March, or the date your business was affected by coronavirus, if after this date. You’ll have to repay any deferred charges during the 12 months after the scheme ends.

Please complete our quick online form to let us know.

Tell us your business reopening - use our reopening form

If your business site has been temporarily closed, because of the coronavirus, and is reopening, or is already open again, please let us know using our reopening form.

If you're planning to reopen your business, we have some water health and safety tips you might want to consider to help you.

For businesses in England seriously affected by coronavirus

Covid–19 repayment scheme

If your business has reopened after being closed, because the coronavirus, we have repayment schemes in place to help with any outstanding amounts you owe that you might have difficulty paying. If we can support you in this way, please call us.

No enforcement action if there’s an outstanding amount you us 

• Stopped all late payment fees or interest charges so you don’t need to worry about these if you’re having problems paying.
• ​Paused all enforcement action for non-payment of bills - we won’t pass any accounts to our debt collection agency or charge any fees for this.

• Stopped all disconnections for customers who haven’t paid their bills.

If your business has been open or partially open, but affected by coronavirus.

We’re working with business who need our support to let them know about their options around payment plans and timescales. If this will help you, please get in touch.

We can reassess your Direct Debit payment 

If the amount of water your business is using is likely to be less, let us know and we can look at your Direct Debit payments.

We'll need to talk to you if your site has closed permanently

If your site has unfortunately permanently closed,  because of the coronavirus, please let us know and we’ll talk to you about what we need to do.

While we’re taking these actions, it’s important that businesses that can pay their bills on time as normal should continue to do so. If your business hasn’t been affected by coronavirus, billing and payment terms and conditions carry on as normal.

What else you can do

• If you don’t pay by Direct Debit, it's a good way to spread the costs of your water - if you set one up now it will spread any current amount you owe plus the charges for your future water equally over 12 monthly instalments.

• If your business is using less water, please send us a meter reading. This will help us update your account and ensure we bill you for the water you’ve used.  It’s best to send meter readings a month apart – but only take readings if it’s safe to.  Please call us on 0345 072 6072 to give us your meter reading. 

• If you’re thinking of cancelling your Direct Debit, please contact us first to see if we can help with our payment options.

• If you're a small to medium-sized business, you can also use our free online area, MyAccount, to view your bills, and review your contact information. If you haven’t signed up already, you can register here.

• Remember to monitor and assess the water pipework/equipment in your building. Even if you’ve not been using your business site(s) you’re still responsible for the health and safety of your water.
  Legionella is a risk that comes with premises not being used that you’ll want bear in mind.
  We’ve got information on this and other water tips for closed businesses on our website to consider as you plan to reopen.

• Watch out for water leaks - It’s easy for leaks to go unnoticed while your premises are vacant, or have far fewer people on site. If your meter readings show an unexpected water use over recent weeks, it’s a sign of a potential leak.
  If you suspect you have a leak on site, our Advanced Services team can support you and provide a quick identification and repair process – please contact them at advancedservices@water-plus.co.uk with all the relevant details.

• If you have restaurants – steps to take now, We have some specific advice on grease taps to consider on our website.

We’ll keep you informed and up to date

We’ll continue to update this web page on any further developments on what we and the industry are doing.
In case you haven’t seen it, the government has issued information on support for businesses and working safely.