At Yorkshire Water, we’re committed to environmental protection as a guiding principle, and we encourage you to think about the benefits of water efficiency and sustainable drainage too. That’s why we offer a range of discounts designed to reduce the load on our networks, and reduce the charges you pay.
Environmental incentive
How does it work?
We charge a £20 environmental component fee for every house or flat connecting to our water network. All of the money raised from this fee goes into a shared pot, which is used solely to fund incentive payments to developer customers who build water-efficient homes. Each incentive payment is worth £100 per eligible property (in effect, a net payment of £80).
How do I qualify for the incentive payment?
To qualify, the water fixtures and fittings installed in the household premises must not exceed the maximum consumption levels set out in the table below:
| Water fittings | Maximum consumption |
|---|---|
| WC | 4 litres full flush/2.6 litres half flush |
| Shower | 7 litres per minute |
| Bath | 170 litres total capacity |
| Basin taps | 5 litres per minute |
| Sink taps | 6 litres per minute |
| Dishwasher | 1 litre per place setting |
| Washing machine | 6 litres per kilogram |
When using the above table to assess water efficiency, the premises must have WC, shower and/or bath, basin taps and sink taps water fittings. If more than one of a particular type of fitting is installed, each must comply with the relevant criterion. Flow restrictors may be installed to ensure compliance. The efficiency of dishwashers and washing machines will only be assessed if installed by the developer.
How do I claim my incentive payment?
Firstly, you must notify us of your intent to claim the environmental incentive in your application for a new water supply (we cannot accept retrospective claims). Then, once the water connections and fittings are installed at the relevant premises, you’ll need to send us evidence that your water fittings meet the qualifying criteria using the link below.
You'll need to provide:
- photos and product specifications of the water fittings/fixtures installed
- photos and product specifications of any flow restrictors installed.
If you're claiming for multiple homes, you only need to provide these for 10% of the properties (rounded down, and capped at a maximum of five properties).
Submit your evidence
Send us photos and product specifications to show your water fittings and fixtures meet the qualifying criteria.
For more details on the end-to-end process, please click on the steps below.
Step 1: Notify us of your intent to claim the payment
Whether you’re a developer, homeowner, self-lay provider (SLP) or new appointee (NAV), you must notify us of your intent to claim the environmental incentive payment when you submit your application for a new water supply.
- Developers/homeowners - notify us on your application for water connections (if you're connecting to our existing mains) or on the bulk order request form (if you're applying for a new water main).
- SLPs - notify us on your self-lay application.
- NAVs - notify us on your NAV application for a bulk supply agreement.
On your application form, there is a section titled ‘Environmental incentive’, where you can notify us of your intent to claim the payment, how many properties will qualify, and how you want to receive the payment (BACS or cheque). Payment will be issued to the party submitting the initial application form.
Just so you know, we cannot accept retrospective claims for the environmental incentive payment if we have not received notification at the initial application stage.
Step 2: Submit your evidence
Once the water connections have been made, and the fixtures and fittings installed in the relevant premises, you can formally claim your payment using the link below:
Send us evidence of your premises’ water efficiency to claim your payment. You’ll need to provide photos and product specifications for the relevant fixtures and fittings.
Claims for environmental incentives can be done in batches (so you can claim for multiple premises at the same time), provided that:
- all of the premises being claimed for are on the same site
- all of the premises being claimed for have been connected for clean water and the fixtures and fittings have been installed
- a sample of the premises being claimed for (10% rounded down and/or capped at a maximum of five) will be unoccupied for five working days from receipt of your evidence.
The evidence you need to provide
You’ll need to provide the following evidence for 10% of the premises being claimed for, rounded down and capped at a maximum of five:
- a photo of each shower, bath, WC, basin tap and sink tap installed on the premises
- a document detailing the make and model and product specification of each shower, bath, WC, basin tap and sink tap installed on the premises
- if any washing machines or dishwashers have been installed, a photo of the label for each unit clearly showing the make and model.
Some important caveats
- If flow restrictors have been installed on fixtures/fittings to make them compliant with the qualifying criteria, you must provide make and model details and product specifications for the flow restrictors.
- If the manufacturer’s product specification details different flow rates for different system pressures, you must assume a pressure of 0.5 bar.
Step 3: We review your evidence
Once we’ve received your submission, we will review the evidence you’ve provided to check it complies with the qualifying criteria.
Physical inspections
We reserve the right, on occasion, to conduct a physical inspection for auditing purposes – this would take place within five working days of receiving your submission. If we decide to conduct a physical inspection, we’ll notify you one working day in advance of the inspection. A physical inspection would involve checking the fixtures/fittings installed match those captured on your submission, and measuring the flow rates on showers and taps to ensure they meet the qualifying criteria.
Penalties for non-compliance
If a physical audit shows that you have falsified evidence on your submission and not complied with the qualifying criteria, no payment will be made in response to your claim, and no further claims will be accepted for the same site. Please note that the environmental component fee must still be paid for all household premises on site connecting to the water network, even if no further claims will be accepted.
If you fail to meet the qualifying criteria, but no deliberate attempt to mislead has been established, no payment will be made in response to your claim, but further claims for other plots on the same site will be acceptable.
Step 4: We issue your payment
After we’ve reviewed your submission and conducted any physical inspections, we’ll let you know if your evidence meets the qualifying criteria.
Successful claims
If your claim is successful, we’ll contact you to let you know. We process incentive payments once a month, so you’ll receive your payment by the end of the next month after when you submitted your evidence. For example, if you submit your evidence in April, you’ll receive your payment no later than the end of May.
Please be aware that we can only make payments to an account in the name of the initial applicant. We will also only make payments once we’ve confirmed the £20 environmental component fee has been paid for the relevant premises.
Unsuccessful claims
If your claim is unsuccessful, you will not receive the associated payment. We’ll contact you to let you know your claim has been unsuccessful and explain why.
Complaints and appeals
Complaints and appeals related to our environmental incentive follow our standard complaints procedure, which is published in the ‘Complaint’s section of our contact Developer Services page.
Sustainable drainage discounts
We offer a three-tiered discount scheme for developments that meet certain sustainable surface water drainage criteria. These discounts are applied to our wastewater infrastructure charge, which is a charge of £581 per property connecting to our public sewer network for the first time.
These discounts are applied on a per-property basis:
- Tier 1 – a £300 discount if the property will not discharge to a public surface water system.
- Tier 2 – a £200 discount if the property will discharge surface water to a public surface water system via a sustainable drainage (SuDS) treatment train.
- Tier 3 – no discount will be offered if the property will discharge surface water to a public system.
How do I apply?
When you apply for a connection to the public sewer network, you can select which level of discount you’re applying for. We’ll conduct on-site inspections during the sewer connection process to confirm you qualify for the discount.
As infrastructure charges are normally raised at the water connection stage, your discount, if approved will be applied to the wastewater infrastructure charge included on your water connection quote. If you’re not applying for a water connection, we’ll invoice you for the wastewater infrastructure charge separately during the sewer connection process.
Please note: we cannot accept retrospective applications for the sustainable drainage incentive once the relevant sewer connections have been made.
Infrastructure credits
Infrastructure charges are payable for each property connecting to our water and/or wastewater network for the first time.
Currently, our infrastructure charges are set at the following standard rates:
- Water infrastructure charge: £612 per household property
- Wastewater infrastructure charge: £581 per household property
Please note that infrastructure charges for non-household properties are calculated using a formula called the “Relevant Multiplier” – this puts the expected water usage of the property in ratio to a typical household property so that an equivalent charge can be produced. For more information about infrastructure charges, please see section 4 of our New Connection Charging Arrangements.
How do infrastructure credits work?
If you're building on a brownfield site where we have previously billed for water and/or wastewater services within the last five years, you may be entitled to infrastructure credits.
An infrastructure credit is a waiver equal to an infrastructure charge (water or wastewater as applicable).
The number of credits you could receive depends on the previous use of the site. For instance, a household property that has been permanently disconnected on site in the last five years is equivalent to one credit.
If a non-household property has been permanently disconnected or you’re proposing to downsize the water meter, we would check our records for the size of the water meter at the property and use this to calculate an equivalent number of credits.
|
Previous property type |
Meter size |
Infrastructure credits |
|---|---|---|
|
Household property |
N/A |
1 |
|
Non-household property |
15mm |
1 |
|
20mm |
2 |
|
|
25mm |
3 |
|
|
30mm |
3 |
|
|
40mm |
6 |
|
|
50mm |
16 |
|
|
80mm |
25 |
|
|
100mm |
64 |
|
|
150mm |
160 |
|
|
200mm |
252 |
If you’re proposing to downsize an existing meter as part of a redevelopment, we would deduct the difference and calculate an equivalent number of credits. For example, if you’re downsizing an 80mm meter to a 30mm meter, you would be entitled to 16 credits based on the difference of 50mm.
Please note: if the number of infrastructure credits you’re entitled to is higher than the number of infrastructure charges applicable to your development, the total infrastructure charge will be zero.
How do I apply?
When you fill out an application for a new water connection or water main, you’ll need to indicate whether there have been any billed connections on site within the last five years. We’ll assess your application against our records to determine the applicable number of infrastructure credits you’re entitled to and apply these to your quote.
Please note: we cannot accept retrospective applications for infrastructure credits once the relevant service connections have been made. If you’d like to request a re-quote, an admin fee will apply.
We reserve the right to carry out checks to ensure compliance. If any non-compliance is found, we will recharge the cost of any deductions previously provided.