Building sustainable homes

To apply for the incentive, you must identify your request on your application for water services (for example, when you apply to us for a new water supply connection or new main).

On your application form, there will be a section titled ‘Water Environmental Incentive’, which will ask you if you want to claim the incentive payment.

If these arrangements will vary across different house types or plots within your development site, then we will provide you with a spreadsheet to complete so that this can be clearly illustrated.

As part of your application, you will need to provide a document detailing the make, model and product specification of each shower, bath, WC, basin tap and sink tap installed on the premises.

Fittings must comply in all cases with Regulation 4 of the Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999.

Please note:

We will not accept retrospective claims for the environmental incentive payment if we have not received notification at the initial application stage.

We will assess whether your development qualifies for the environmental incentive scheme, based on the fixtures and fittings information that is submitted alongside your application.

If it does, we will provisionally confirm the incentive that each plot is eligible for within your quote.

If it doesn’t, we will explain why and provide guidance on how the application could be corrected to meet the Qualifying Criteria.

Please note:

The full water supply infrastructure charge for the prevailing charging year will be payable as part of your quote.

The environmental incentive will be paid to you separately at a later date, subject to receipt of satisfactory evidence. 

Once the water connections have been made, and the fixtures and fittings have been installed in the relevant premises, you can claim your environmental incentive payment.

Prior to occupation, please email us to confirm which premises have complied with the acceptance criteria. Claims for environmental incentive payments can be done in batches (i.e. you can claim for multiple premises at the same time), provided that:

• all premises being claimed for are on the same site
• all premises being claimed for have been connected for clean water and the fixtures and fittings have been installed
• a sample of the premises being claimed for (minimum 10% or one if fewer than ten properties) will be unoccupied for five working days from the receipt of your evidence.

The evidence you need to provide:

You will need to provide the following evidence for a minimum of 10% of properties (or one if fewer than ten) being claimed for:

• a photo of each shower, bath, WC, basin tap and sink tap installed on the premises.
• if any washing machines or dishwashers have been installed, a photo of the label for each unit clearly showing the make and model

Please note:

You must submit this evidence within 12 weeks of the water connection being completed for each property. If we don’t hear from you within this period, then the affected premises will no longer be eligible for the incentive.

Once we’ve received your submission, we will review the evidence you’ve provided to check it complies with the qualifying criteria.

Physical inspections

We reserve the right, on occasion, to conduct a physical inspection for auditing purposes — this would take place within five working days of receiving your submission.

If we decide to conduct a physical inspection, we’ll notify you one working day in advance of the inspection.

A physical inspection would involve checking the fixtures/fittings installed match those captured on your initial submission, and measuring the flow rates on showers and taps to ensure they meet the qualifying criteria.

Penalties for non-compliance

We may audit the premises to verify compliance. Should we establish that the premises does not comply with the criteria, we will notify you of the reason why. No incentive payments will be made for the relevant batch of properties, where a property fails an audit.  We also reserve the right to carry out further audits and/or withhold payments for the entire phase or site as appropriate.

Where a developer fails two audits in a 12-month period they will not be eligible to apply for the environmental incentives scheme on any future developments for a period of 6 months from the last failed audit.

After we’ve reviewed your submission and carried out any physical inspections, we will let you know whether your evidence meets the qualifying criteria and is eligible to receive payment.

We will engage with developers to agree an appropriate payment schedule that works for all parties. Our general preference would be to make the incentive payment once the entire site, or phase, has been fully built out.  

However, as a minimum and if requested by the developer, we will process payments once per month. In that event, if your claim is successful, we will issue the relevant payment to you by the end of the following month from when you submitted your evidence.

Where a claim is unsuccessful, the associated payment will not be issued. We will contact you to let you know your claim has been unsuccessful and explain why.

To apply for the incentive, you must identify your request on your application for water services (for example, when you apply to us for a new water supply connection or new main).

On your application form, there will be a section titled ‘Sewerage Environmental Incentive’, which will ask you for information on the drainage arrangements at your development.

If these arrangements will vary across different house types or plots within your development site, then we will provide you with a spreadsheet to complete so that this can be clearly illustrated.

As part of your application, you will need to provide a drainage layout drawing that shows where the foul flows will be connected and how surface water flows from each property will be managed.

Please note:

We cannot accept retrospective claims for the environmental incentive payment if we have not received notification at the initial application stage.

We will assess whether your development qualifies for the environmental incentive scheme based on the drainage layout information that is submitted alongside your application.

If it does, we will provisionally confirm the incentive that each plot is eligible for within your quote.

If it doesn’t, we will explain why and provide guidance on how the application could be corrected to meet the Qualifying Criteria.

Please note:

The gross infrastructure charge (for schemes with the inclusion of an agreed SuDS scheme) for the prevailing charging year will be payable as part of your quote.

The environmental incentive will be paid to you separately at a later date, subject to receipt of satisfactory evidence. 

Once you have installed the surface water (rainwater) solution for the premises, you can claim your environmental incentive payment.

Prior to occupation, please email us to confirm which premises have complied with the acceptance criteria. Claims for environmental incentive payments can be done in batches (i.e. you can claim for multiple premises at the same time), provided that all premises being claimed for are on the same site.

The evidence you need to provide:

You will normally need to provide the following evidence for the premises being claimed for:

• Confirmation from Building Control (or Private Inspector acting in same capacity) that surface water has been managed in accordance with the agreed drainage strategy

Please note:

You must submit this evidence within 12 weeks of the surface water solution being installed for each property. If we don’t hear from you within this period, then the affected premises will no longer be eligible for the incentive.

Once we’ve received your submission, we will review the evidence you’ve provided to check it complies with the qualifying criteria.

Physical inspections

We reserve the right, on occasion, to conduct a physical inspection for auditing purposes — this would take place within five working days of receiving your submission.

If we decide to conduct a physical inspection, we’ll notify you one working day in advance of the inspection.

Penalties for non-compliance

We may audit the premises to verify compliance. Should we establish that the premises does not comply with the incentives criteria, we will notify you of the reason why. No incentive payments will be made where a property fails an audit. We also reserve the right to carry out further audits and/or withhold payments for the entire phase or site as appropriate.

Further, if it is discovered that an unrestricted surface water connection has been made to the sewerage network, then we reserve the right to pursue the developer for payment of the infrastructure charge for sewerage connections with zero surface water abatement (£1,004 per connection in 2025-26) for each affected property.

Where a developer fails two audits in a 12-month period they will not be eligible to apply for the environmental incentives scheme on any future developments for a period of 6 months from the last failed audit.

After we’ve reviewed your submission and carried out any physical inspections, we will let you know whether your evidence meets the qualifying criteria and is eligible to receive payment.

We will engage with developers to agree an appropriate payment schedule that works for all parties. Our general preference would be to make the incentive payment once the entire site, or phase, has been fully built out.  

However, as a minimum and if requested by the developer, we will process payments once per month. In that event, if your claim is successful, we will issue the relevant payment to you by the end of the following month from when you submitted your evidence.

Where a claim is unsuccessful, the associated payment will not be issued. We will contact you to let you know your claim has been unsuccessful and explain why.