We understand that a rise in water bills can be concerning, especially with the increasing costs of living. We want to assure you that we are committed to making significant investments that benefit both our customers and the environment. Across Yorkshire, we're focusing on crucial projects such as reducing storm overflows, improving the resilience of our clean water networks, and developing new water treatment facilities and boreholes.
These initiatives are part of our largest ever environmental investment programme between 2025 and 2030, with a total of £8.3 billion dedicated to improving services and upgrading infrastructure throughout the region.
Although this planned investment, approved by Ofwat in December, will result in an average bill increase of £135 (29%) in 2025-26, or about £11 per month, it’s necessary to ensure that our water and wastewater services continue to meet high standards and address environmental concerns.
Our five year-plan for Yorkshire
Over the next five years, we’ll be delivering our largest ever investment programme, totalling £8.3 billion. This will allow us to make important changes to the way do things and invest in our infrastructure, making it more resilient and reliable.
Alongside this investment, we’re continuing to improve our productivity and efficiency, to enable us to do the right thing for Yorkshire.
This does mean that bills are rising to help fund these improvements, but this significant investment is essential to delivering a better service to customers in homes and businesses across Yorkshire for generations to come.
Our £8.3 billion investment includes:
- £1.5 billion to invest in storm overflows to drive down discharges across the county
- £360 million to prevent nutrient pollution in watercourses
- £327 million rolling out smart meters to help customers save water and reduce their bills
- £51 million to increase our asset resilience
- £98 million to install water quality monitors in rivers so we can identify and respond to pollution reports quicker
- £75 million for environmental protection and improvements
- £99 million to improve drinking water quality
How we’re planning on improving our storm overflow performance in your area
Our plans for the next five years will see us delivering our largest-ever programme of environmental investment, focusing on improvement to the areas we know you really care about, including pollution. We hear you and understand your frustration, and we’re now fully focused on making things right. As part of our £8.3 billion investment, we’ll invest £1.5 billion to drive down discharges from over 400 storm overflows to improve the quality of the region’s watercourses.
North Yorkshire
- Over £2 million will be invested in Whitby
- Over £3 million will be invested in Kirkbymoorside
- Over £120 million will be invested in Scarborough
- Over £30 million will be invested in York
- Over £10 million will be invested in Knaresborough
West Yorkshire
- Over £150 million will be invested in Bradford
- Over £180 million will be invested in Leeds
- Over £35 million will be invested in Wakefield
- Over £90 million will be invested in Kirklees
- Over £45 million will be invested in Calderdale
South Yorkshire and Derbyshire
- Over £90 million will be invested in Barnsley
- Over £15 million will be invested in Doncaster
- Over £65 million will be invested in Rotherham
- Over £85 million will be invested in Sheffield
- Over £19 million will be invested in Derbyshire
East Riding of Yorkshire
- Over £100 million will be invested in Bridlington
- Over £5 million will be invested in Rawcliffe
Find out more about storm overflows and the work we've done so far
We’ve already started making big changes to drive improvements and reduce discharges from our storm overflows across the whole of Yorkshire.
What do I pay for?
Water
This is the clean water we supply to your home that comes out of the taps. If you're on a meter we'll measure this in cubic metres. If you're unmetered we'll base this on the rateable value of your property.
Sewerage
This charge is for the water we take away and clean after you've used it. We assume that 95% of the water you've used will come back to us through our sewers.
Surface water
This charge is for taking away all the rainwater that falls on your home through our sewers. If your surface water doesn’t go into a public sewer, you can apply for a rebate.
Highway drainage
This charge covers the cost of draining water from roads and footpaths into the public sewer.
Standing charges
This covers the cost of creating your bill, customer service, reading your water meter (if you have one) and maintaining public pipes and sewers.
How much will I pay?
Our bills are a little different depending on which services you get from us. For more detailed information, tell us if you have a water meter:
What support is available to me?
Throughout the regulatory process, we've tried our best to balance investment in our assets with keeping bills affordable. We understand that some of our customers may be struggling with their bills, and as part of our plans, we're increasing our financial support for all low-income households, whilst also planning to double the help available for those on a social tariff. This includes £350 million of bill reductions and debt support over the next five years.
Any questions?
Why has my bill gone up?
We’re working hard to make sure that your water bill remains one of the lowest in the country whilst continuing to deliver the services you need every day.
This year we are publishing a forecast of £602 for the 2025-26 average household bill. Compared against the anticipated £467 for 2025-26 this means we have an increase in average bill of £135 which is 29%, around £11 per month.
Our charges have been set in compliance with the published charging rules that were issued by Ofwat in October 2021.
We have ensured that our charges have been updated to align with the revenue allowances within the Ofwat Final Determination for PR24, as published by Ofwat on the 19 December 2024. The Final Determination for PR24 includes the impact of in-period ODIs for 2023-24 and the impact of our over recovery against the revenue allowances in 2023-24.
We have assured our charges setting process using both internal and external assurance, a Board Assurance statement has been signed by the Board of Yorkshire Water.
Haven’t customers already paid for this?
The costs that we have submitted for this plan are focussed on meeting our statutory and legislative requirements, these are the things our regulator expect us to do as we deliver our services to customers. Any extra costs that we have submitted for investment outside the things that are legally required are for things that matter to the people of Yorkshire — investments in all bathing waters in the county, and investments in flood reduction for Hull for example.
What have customers said about the plans?
We have carried out our own affordability and acceptability testing as late as possible to align with our final plan. Overall acceptability was 79% for household customers and 60% of those surveyed agreed the was affordable.
Customers told us:
- 77% like the overall vision
- 72% believe the plan reflects their priorities as a customer
- 76% believe the goals/outcomes are the main areas they expect to see in the plan
- 61% believe the plan seems realistic and achievable (given its relative size)
- 81% think the plan will benefit Yorkshire
- 77% support this plan and what it hopes to achieve
Why don’t you reduce execs’ salaries instead of putting our bills up?
Our directors’ salaries are set by an independent remuneration committee and are regularly tested against benchmarks across our industry and for similar roles in other industries. We want to pay fairly as we want to be able to attract candidates with the right calibre to deliver the right outcomes for Yorkshire. The remuneration we pay reflects the challenge of the role and the expertise and experience required to deliver the performance we want to see.
How much of the bill money is going to paying off debt?
Infrastructure is expensive and borrowing is an important element when it comes to this investment. Much like a mortgage – it allows you to invest in large projects but spread the cost over the life of the asset, which ultimately means the costs are not being felt by one particular generation of customers.
In the next five years we’ll spend £8.3bn on improvements to the networks, our customer services and financial support, all for the benefit of the people in our region. It will be focused on improvements to things we know our customers really care about. Like reducing discharges from more than 400 storm overflows, improving bathing waters in the region, continuing to deliver secure, safe clean water supplies with improved resilience of our network of pipes and focussing on preparing our networks for the challenges of climate change and population growth will bring.
What support can you give to those who are struggling to pay as it is?
We understand that many may be struggling to pay their water bill and we don’t want anyone to be worried about this. As part of our plans, we’re investing more to support over customers struggling to pay and providing £350m of bill reductions and debt support in the next five years.
Are you going to be using this money to stop pollution?
Yes, we know we need to reinvest this to improve the health of our watercourses. Our plan includes a £1.5bn investment in more than 400 storm overflows to drive down total discharges across our operational area and improve rivers across Yorkshire.
How much are you going to invest to stop sewage going into the sea?
We know how important it is that we invest in our assets to help create a healthy, natural environment. That’s why our plans include investment into protecting and improving river and coastal water quality.
How much you spending on stopping leaks on your assets?
We know it’s important that we do our bit to save water by tackling leakage and that’s why we’ve included investment into driving leakage reduction into our plans. This forms part of our investment into a resilient clean water network that will focus on future resource needs.