{"id":26419,"date":"2023-04-03T12:15:53","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T12:15:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/?p=26419"},"modified":"2023-04-03T12:15:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-03T12:15:53","slug":"businesses-facing-increased-water-bills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/businesses-facing-increased-water-bills\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses facing increased water bills"},"content":{"rendered":"

From 1st<\/sup> April 2023 non-domestic water and sewerage charges rose by an average of 13.4%.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NI Water announced the price rise for small, medium and large businesses, farms, industrial users and non-household use properties.<\/p>\n

NI Water non-domestic customers also include public bodies, churches and voluntary organisations.<\/p>\n

NI Water said it had \u201cabsorbed as much cost as possible\u201d but added the company is facing \u201csignificant financial pressures from rising energy prices and other cost increases\u201d.<\/p>\n

The company, which receives government funding, is required to annually review the charges levied for water and sewerage services and agree them with the Utility Regulator in order that customers pay the fairest rate for the water and sewerage services they receive.<\/p>\n

The need to raise tariffs reflects the impact rising inflation has had on the cost of providing these services to customers.<\/p>\n

EXPECTED INCREASES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Measured customer bills will rise by 12.7%, while unmeasured and trade effluent bills will rise by 13.7% and 15.5% respectively. NI Water said this \u201ccompares favourably with other utilities across gas and electricity sectors\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2018We are aware how challenging the environment can be for local businesses within the economy right now\u2019<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For measured customers, this means a shop or small office unit, connected to a sewer, using 285M\u00b3 of water, will pay \u00a3478, a rise of \u00a354 per year; while a farmer using 400M\u00b3 of water, with septic tank, will pay \u00a3345, a rise of \u00a337.<\/p>\n

For unmeasured customers, a small to medium shop or office unit, with a NAV of \u00a38,000, connected to sewer, will pay \u00a3366, a rise of \u00a344.<\/p>\n

NI Water Director of Finance, Regulation and Commercial Ronan Larkin said: \u201cWe are aware how challenging the environment can be for local businesses within the economy right now.\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIn previous years, we have been able to limit the non-domestic price increase to strike a balance between generating sufficient income and minimising the impact on business customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have worked hard to ensure most of our customers will see their bill rise by less than inflation. The revenue from bill will help support necessary investment in our infrastructure, benefiting the local economy and environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

EXTRA HELP<\/strong><\/p>\n

He added that NI Water is \u201cmindful\u201d of the impact of the price rises, and added it was \u201cimportant that customers who may need extra help with their bill communicate with us as soon as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur billing team will be on hand to offer guidance, including payment breaks or longer repayment plans,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have enhanced our online self-service portal with a smarter navigation to help provide a better experience when paying a bill, managing account(s), or viewing water consumption details.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaflets will be mailed to non-domestic customers to notify them of the price changes and how they will be applied. Customers can access further information about our charges on NI Water\u2019s website at\u00a0www.niwater.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Anyone with questions about their bill or our charges can phone the Billing Enquiries Team on 03458 770030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From 1st April 2023 non-domestic water and sewerage charges rose by an average of 13.4%. NI Water announced the price rise for small, medium and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":26420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[761,5796],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/car-wash-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26419"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26423,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26419\/revisions\/26423"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/neighbourhoodretailer.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}