The industry’s regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS), has launched two Charges Relief Schemes to provide additional support to businesses in Scotland facing difficulties with their water and sewerage charges during this challenging time.
Prepayment Refund Scheme
This Scheme ensures Licensed Providers offer a part-refund to customers who have pre-paid their Charges up to 24th September 2020.
Wholesale Charge Deferral Scheme (WCDS)
This two-part Scheme temporarily defers a portion of a customer’s charges, between 24th March 2020 and 24th September 2020, to be paid at a later date.
- Part A – Customers with a Scottish Water meter may be eligible to apply for a temporary deferral of their usage charges.
- Part B – Customers with 25mm or smaller meters, as well as unmetered and drainage-only customers, may be eligible to apply for a temporary deferral of part of their Fixed Charges, relating to water, sewerage & drainage.
The Schemes will last for a period of six months, with the option for WICS to extend them for a further three months. Upon Scheme completion, customers will need to pay their deferred charges.
The WCDS can provide cashflow benefits to affected customers. However, if a customer already has a COVID payment plan in place with PURE, this arrangement may be better suited to their circumstances than the industry Scheme, to prevent accruing Charges. For more information about the Schemes, to request an application form or discuss the options, please contact PURE’s Customer Service Team on 0330 113 3050 or customerservice@pureutilities.co.uk.
Scottish Water are independently hosting a Customer FAQ, which will be updated periodically: www.scottishwater.co.uk/business-and-developers/licensed-providers/whats-new/coronavirus