New connections charging

Our Development Services and new connection charges 2024-25.

Welcome to Severn Trent’s Developer Services charging information page.

Our charges are renewed each year, applicable from 1st April through to 31st March. They align with our Regulators (Ofwat) charging rules for new connection services and have been developed under the provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991.

Our charging arrangement document sets out the charges made by us for services relating to new connections to our water and sewerage network or works required to our network because of a development, while carrying out our actions as a water and sewerage undertaker in line with our Instrument of Appointment.

We strive to offer developer customers value for money, whilst recovering all reasonable costs, and present the relevant charges in a manner which is easy to understand.

We create our developer charges with the following five principles in mind:

Our Charges

Every year we renew and republish our new connections charges that are applicable for a 12-month period commencing on 1 April.  Here is our latest Charging Arrangements Document (PDF) (opens in new window). Throughout our Charging Arrangements Document the term “developer” refers to all customers who are building and developing properties. 

To provide visibility of annual charges we publish our Charging Arrangements Document in the February prior to the charges coming into effect on 1 April. 

If you’d like to see our current years new connections charges (which are still in use until 31 March 2024) please click on the link below.

2023-2024 New Connections Charging Arrangement (PDF)

If you’d like to find out more about new connections charging and the changes brought about by Ofwat’s principles-based rules please take a look at Ofwat’s website.

Looking ahead to 2025/26

We’ll be holding several developer customer engagement sessions during the Summer & Autumn of 2024 in readiness for our 2025-26 charges. We would love to hear your feedback and suggestions so please do let us know if you would like to attend one of these sessions by emailing developercharges@severntrent.co.uk

It is also worth noting that from 1st April 2025 Ofwat intend to make several changes to the Charging Rules, to include the following:

-          The provision of Income Offset will cease, thereby water and sewerage companies will no longer be able to make an Income Offset payment to developer customers.

-          Changes to Environmental Incentivisation, whereby the aim is to introduce a common approach across England that continues to adequately support sustainable development and encourage innovation.

Working in partnership

In reviewing our new connection charging framework it’s important to us that we listen and respond to our customers wishes. We work closely with Water UK, developers, self-lay providers (SLPs) and new appointment & variations (NAVs), along with their trade bodies and representatives.

We apply a rigorous governance and assurance framework to charge setting and have provided the Water Services Regulation Authority with an assurance statement (PDF) and statement of significant changes (PDF) from our Board of Directors. 

Contact our Developer Services team

Whether it's a large or small development, our team is here to answer any questions you have about your building project.