Yorkshire and the Water Act
From 1 April 2017 all non-household customers have been able to choose who they buy their water and sewerage retail services from. This includes all businesses (big and small), schools, hospitals, charities, government and councils. Behind the change is the Government’s Water Act, which aims to introduce more competition into the water industry in England, the aim being to reduce prices and improve customer service in addition to improving water sustainability and resilience.
To operate effectively and fairly in the new market we’ve separated our wholesale and retail functions for non-household customers only.
Yorkshire Water will still provide the water and waste water services, and your chosen retailer will provide your customer services as well as reading your meter and issuing your bills.
For more information, including details of all licensed retailers and how to switch, go to the independent industry website open-water.org.uk or the website of our regulator ofwat.gov.uk.
Yorkshire Water's wholesale services:
- Supplying water
- Looking after the water and sewage pipes
- Removing and treating sewage
Your retailer's services:
- Looking after your customer queries
- Providing advice
- Reading your meter
- Taking your payments
Our areas of responsibility
As a wholesaler we are responsible for meeting certain levels of service and where we fail these, we make a payment under the Guaranteed Service Standards. The areas we are responsible for are:
- Appointments
- Water Pressure
- Interruptions to the Water Supply (Planned and Unplanned)
- Sewer Flooding
In addition, all wholesalers are required under licence conditions to pay compensation where essential household water supplies are interrupted as a result of restrictions authorised by emergency drought orders. Although this measure is not part of the Guaranteed Service Standards, it does mean that customers have access to drought payments if essential supplies are not maintained.
Our guarantees to you
We’re committed to providing the highest-quality services and as a wholesaler of water and sewerage services, by law we must meet certain standards.
Appointments (visits)
We’ll let you know if your appointment is morning, afternoon or evening – or within a 2 hour slot.
We’ll let you know if your appointment is morning, afternoon or evening – or within a 2 hour slot. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £40.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 10 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £40.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
We’ll attend our agreed appointment on time.
We’ll attend our agreed appointment on time. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £50.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 10 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £40.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
We’ll let you know in good time if we need to cancel an agreed appointment.
We’ll let you know if we need to cancel an agreed appointment at least 24 hours before. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £50.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 10 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £40.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
Water pressure
You'll get compensation following an investigation, if the pressure in our communication pipe to your premises falls below 7 meter static head on two occasions, each lasting for 1 hour or more, within a 28 day period.
Following an investigation, if the pressure in our communication pipe to your premises falls below 7 meter static head on two occasions, each lasting for 1 hour or more, within a 28 day period, we'll automatically pay you £50 up to a maximum of £250 per year.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
Planned work
We’ll give you 48 hours notice if we plan to interrupt your water supply for more than 4 hours.
We’ll give you 48 hours notice if we plan to interrupt your water supply for more than 4 hours. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £100.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 20 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £100.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
If we’ve given you notice of an interruption of more than 4 hours, we’ll restore your water supply by the time stated.
If we’ve given you notice of an interruption of more than 4 hours, we’ll restore your water supply by the time stated. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £100 and an extra £100 for every additional 12 hours your supply is interrupted.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 20 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £100.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
Emergency (unplanned) work
Following emergency work, we’ll restore your water supply within 12 hours.
Following emergency work, we’ll restore your water supply within 12 hours. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £100 and an extra £100 for every additional 12 hours your supply is interrupted.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 20 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £100.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
Payments will be made up to a maximum of twice the annual water supply charges.
Sewer flooding
If flooding from a public sewer enters your premises, you might get compensation.
Depending on the circumstances, if flooding from a public sewer enters your premises, you might be entitled to compensation. If you are, we'll automatically pay you 100% of your sewage charges or £300-£2000, whichever is greater (up to a maximum of £2,000).
For repeat incidents within a 12 month period this will increase by £100 per event up to a maximum of £2,500.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 20 working days, we'll automatically pay you an additional £100.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
If flooding from a public sewer only enters your land, you can claim compensation for each incident in the year via your retailer.
If flooding from a public sewer enters only your land, you may claim for each incident in the year via your retailer. You can’t claim a payment for sewer flooding to your land if you are entitled to an automatic payment for sewer flooding to your premises for the same incident.
Additionally, your claim for a payment for sewer flooding to your land will only be valid if you were materially affected by the incident. You need therefore, to show or explain the effect of the sewer flooding on your land when you make your claim.
If you are eligible, you can claim 50% of your sewage charges or £150-£1,000, whichever is greater.
Please contact your retailer directly within 3 months of the event to make a claim.
Water quality
If we've restricted the use of your drinking water by issuing you a "do not use", "do not drink" or a "boil water advice" notice we'll lift this notice within 48 hours of the notice being issued. (GSS)
If we've restricted the use of your drinking water by issuing you a "do not use", "do not drink" or a "boil water advice" notice we'll lift this notice within 48 hours of it being issued. If we fail to do this, we'll automatically pay you £60 and an additional £40 for every additional 24 hours that the notice stays in place.
If we haven't made the payment to you within 20 working days of the end of the 48 hour period, we'll automatically pay you an additional £40.
Automatic payments will be made as soon as we've confirmed your entitlement. We'll get in touch and let you know how you will receive the payment.
There are some instances where these above automatic payments would not be due. These include:
- Where the water supply was polluted or contaminated by the customer
- The water quality notice was served due to drought or immediately following a period of drought;
This is a new GSS guarantee and comes into effect for events that begin on or after the 1st October 2025.
Up to a maximum of the value of your water charges.
Water shortages
You'll get compensation if we have to interrupt or cut off your water supply because of a drought.
If we have to interrupt or cut off your water supply because of a drought, we’ll automatically pay you per day or part of day during which we’ve interrupted your supply.
We'll pay £50 per day to a maximum of your previous years water charges. If you’ve not paid a full year’s water charge, or a third party is responsible for the water charges, the maximum is £500.
This is an automatic payment and will be made as soon as we’ve confirmed your entitlement. The payment will be sent to your retailer for them to issue to you.
Our Business Charter is reviewed every 3 years. This is the current version, effective from 1 July 2025.
Our Business Charter is subject to terms and conditions, please get in touch if you’d like written details.