£535 or £759, and you do not get to choose
The cheapest water company in England and Wales charges about £535 a year. The most expensive charges about £759. That is a £224 gap for the same service, and unlike every other household bill, you cannot switch to the cheaper one. Water is a regional monopoly, so your company is decided by your address. The average bill for 2026/27 is £639, made of £309 for clean water and £330 for taking the waste away.
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Every combined water company, cheapest first
Combined water and sewerage companies, average 2026/27 household bill. Water only companies charge roughly the £309 water portion, billed alongside a separate sewerage company.
| # | Company | Average bill |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northumbrian | £535 |
| 2 | Severn Trent | £587 |
| 3 | Hafren Dyfrdwy | £635 |
| 4 | Yorkshire | £636 |
| 5 | Thames | £658 |
| 6 | United Utilities | £660 |
| 7 | Anglian | £674 |
| 8 | Welsh Water, Dwr Cymru | £683 |
| 9 | Wessex | £695 |
| 10 | South West | £740 |
| 11 | Southern | £759 |
The full charges for your own company, standing charge and rate per cubic metre, are on the water companies page, and the calculator on the water page works out your bill on metered or unmetered charges.
Why you cannot switch, and what that means
When the water industry in England and Wales was privatised it was split into regional monopolies, one company for a patch of the country, and households were never given a choice of supplier. The 2014 reforms opened switching to business customers only. So while you can shop around for energy, broadband or insurance, your water company is simply whoever serves your postcode, and the only lever on the price is how you are billed, not who bills you.
That is also why the market merchandises this figure so badly. No company is competing for you, so nobody advertises a clean comparison, and the numbers you find online range from about £415 to £759 depending on what each source is really measuring. We explain that spread in full on the average water bill page. The one current, official cash figure for a combined bill is £639.
What you can actually do about your bill
You cannot change company, but you can change how you are charged. Ask for a water meter, which every company must fit free on request. Unmetered bills are based on your home's old rateable value and bear no relation to how much water you use, so if your home has fewer people than bedrooms, a meter almost always cuts the bill, and you usually get a trial period to change your mind.
Then check the support schemes. WaterSure caps the bill for metered households on certain benefits who have to use a lot of water, for a medical condition or a large family. Most companies also run a social tariff for low incomes, and there are trust funds that clear water debt. None of it is advertised, so the help with bills page pulls together what you can claim.
Where these figures come from
The company bills are the 2026/27 average household figures, forecast by Water UK and cross checked against each company's own published charges scheme. Scotland collects water through the council tax, averaging about £532, and Northern Ireland does not bill households separately for water, so both are kept out of the England and Wales comparison. Full sources are on the average bill page.
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