Is Your Business Overpaying for Water? Here’s How to Check

If you run a business in England, you’ve been able to choose your water retailer since 2017 — but water is the one utility almost nobody thinks to compare. Most business owners assume it works like the domestic market, where there’s no choice at all, and simply pay whatever arrives on the bill.

What actually changed in 2017

The water retail market was deregulated so that businesses could switch their retailer — the company that bills you and handles customer service — while the physical pipes and network stayed with the regional supplier (in London and the South East, that’s Thames Water). In practice, this works exactly like switching gas or electricity supplier: nothing changes at the tap, only who you pay and what you’re charged.

How to tell if you’re overpaying

Check your latest water bill for the retailer name and the tariff you’re on. If you’ve never actively chosen a retailer, you’re almost certainly on your regional incumbent’s standard tariff, which is rarely the cheapest option available. Two things are worth checking specifically: whether you’re being charged a standing charge that doesn’t reflect your meter size, and whether your surface water drainage charge is accurate — a surprising number of businesses are billed for drainage on a rateable area larger than their actual premises, simply because it was never queried when the business moved in.

What a typical saving looks like

Savings vary a lot by usage, but as a rough guide: a small retail unit with light water use might save a few hundred pounds a year, while a restaurant kitchen or launderette with high daily volumes can see four-figure annual savings once retail margin and service charges are properly compared. The only way to know your specific figure is to have your actual bill checked — generic percentage claims aren’t reliable for water the way they sometimes are for energy.

Who sees the biggest savings

Water switching tends to matter most for businesses with genuinely high usage rather than a typical office. Restaurants and takeaways running commercial dishwashers and pre-rinse taps, launderettes running multiple wash cycles a day, and car repair garages washing vehicles regularly are the clearest candidates. Food businesses should also check whether they’re correctly billed for trade effluent — a separate charge that applies to certain types of waste water and is sometimes miscategorised.

What switching involves

Unlike gas and electricity, there’s no fixed contract term to navigate — most business water retail deals can be switched with a simple notice period, and there’s no engineer visit or interruption to your supply. Your new retailer handles the handover with your existing one, and your meter and pipework are completely untouched.

What to do next

Send us a recent water bill and we’ll tell you within a couple of days whether switching retailer would save you money, with no obligation either way. It’s worth checking alongside your gas and electricity at the same time — see our full business energy comparison, or get a free quote to get started.