How the new water rate increases impact businesses
The average business water bill in England and Wales will increase by 36% over the next five years, water regulator Ofwat confirmed this morning.
What does this mean for my business?
We’ve crunched the numbers using data from our ROI calculator to estimate how the water bills of different kinds of business are impacted. You can see these illustrated in the tables below.
Note that the exact amount will depend on how much water you use and your water supplier. These figures do not take into account inflation, which water companies are also allowed to add to customers’ bills every year.
How water rate price increases could affect business water bills
| Business type | Annual water use (cubic metres)* | Annual cost 2024-25 ** | Annual cost 2029-30 *** | Increase in annual costs 2029-30 vs 2024-25 |
| Cafe / coffee shop | 1460 | £5,870 | £7,983 | £2,113 |
| Restaurant | 1460 | £5,870 | £7,983 | £2,113 |
| Bar / pub | 1460 | £5,870 | £7,983 | £2,113 |
| Build To Rent (50 apartments) | 6351 | £25,533 | £34,724 | £9,192 |
| Build To Rent (100 apartments) | 12702 | £51,065 | £69,448 | £18,383 |
| Build To Rent (1000 apartments) | 127020 | £510,650 | £694,484 | £183,834 |
| Student Accommodation (100 units) | 3285 | £13,206 | £17,961 | £4,754 |
| Student Accommodation (1000 units) | 32850 | £132,065 | £179,608 | £47,543 |
| Hotel (10 beds) | 5475 | £22,011 | £29,935 | £7,924 |
| Hotel (80 beds) | 43800 | £176,086 | £239,477 | £63,391 |
| Office business (50 desks) | 912.5 | £3,668 | £4,989 | £1,321 |
| Office business (100 desks) | 1825 | £7,337 | £9,978 | £2,641 |
* Assumptions: Cafe, pub and restaurants typically use 4,000L/day; Average apartment with 2.4 people each uses 145L/day = 348L/day per apartment; Single occupant student accommodation consumes 90L/day; Hotels typically consume 1500L/room/day; On average, for office buildings, water consumption is 50L for each employee per day.
** Using average business water and wastewater rate for 2024/25 of £4.02 per cubic metre
*** Using average increase (36%) for business water rates in England and Wales as announced by Ofwat 19 December 2024
What can I do to keep water costs down?
The good news is that because virtually all businesses are charged based on the amount of water they use through a meter you can at least take steps to offset the impact of the price rises. Put simply, if you use less water, you will pay less. Check out our top 5 tips to reduce the amount your business pays for water to see how you can keep a lid on costs.
You can also check out our ROI Calculator to see how much water and money you could save by using Watergate’s technology to drive water efficiency.
Gareth is a self-confessed ‘water geek’ and sits on a number of industry water efficiency working groups. He is head of communications at Watergate.