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Water charges used to be based solely on rateable value, and charitable organisations including churches were distinguished from other consumers by virtue of the rating relief to which they were entitled. This changed with new tariffs which distinguished between commercial customers and domestic households but did not recognise community buildings as a distinct category whose circumstances bring them closer to domestic than to commercial consumers. A review of the water charging system in England and Wales carried out by the Government in 1997 highlighted the fact that, where water supplies to church halls are metered, some companies had levied "disproportionately high standing charges" despite low consumption of water.

In February 2000, the Government issued a Report entitled "Delivering the Government's objectives". This contained the following paragraphs :-

"There are also many non-household users who are not in businesses; the occupiers of premises used for public and community functions, arts, education or health, places of worship, community sports facilities, clubs, charities and voluntary bodies. It would be inappropriate to charge all such customers as if they were businesses. The principle should be that those making similar demands on services should be charged on the same basis. Some premises, such as places of worship, village halls, scout and guide huts, clubs and charity premises may be unoccupied for considerable periods or will use a very low volume of water. If charged on the same basis as other non-household users, they could face particularly high costs because of the disproportionate effect of standing charges for low volume users. Where premises impose customer-related costs in line with or lower than those of typical households, they should be able to benefit from tariffs which reflect their small demand on the water system.

Sewerage services to non-household premises should adopt the approach outlined above. In particular, surface water drainage charges should be set in a way that is sensitive to the actual use of this service by different types of premises. Premises with large grounds, such as burial grounds, schools and hospitals, may have a large proportion of their land not draining to a public sewer. Companies should be prepared to set their charges to such premises accordingly".

OFWAT supports the Government's statement and if water companies continue to impose charges the basis for which seems unfairly high they should be reminded of this statement.

Surface Water Drainage
If you are billed for sewerage charges and your property has been built with a soakaway so that none of your surface water drains into sewers you may be entitled to an allowance from 1 April 2000. The allowance is around £14 per year for a typical domestic customer. To qualify there must be no drains taking surface water to the public sewer within the boundaries of your property.