Environmental incentives

1. Properties need to be fitted with water efficient devices in accordance with table 1 of the EICF shown below (right hand column): 

2. Details of the WC, shower, bath, basin taps and sink taps water fittings must be provided on your application and may be subject to audits to verify compliance. The maximum water consumption needs to meet the common environmental assessment criteria as set out in Table 1.

For every connection that meets the standards, you will receive a credit of £250 per connection applied as a discount against your infrastructure costs. 

Please note: 

We reserve the right to visit the properties to audit the fittings which apply for the incentive before it is occupied. Should a property be found to be non-compliant with the agreed efficiency specification we will carry out further audits. Should three homes on a particular application or development be found to be non-compliant all further homes in that agreement will be deemed non-compliant and we will seek financial recompense for the wrongly claimed discount. Failure to comply may result prohibit further applications for incentives.

We will require you to comply with the Bronze level standard to apply for Silver. 

For the Silver incentive to apply the property must rely on water recycling as the primary means of water supply. This could include solutions that use rainwater harvesting, grey water recycling or other water reuse technologies. We will require demonstration that relevant British Standards have been complied with.

If you're dealing with one regular home (a single domestic property), you need to install a 4,000-litre tank to collect and store rainwater. For other types of buildings (like apartment blocks, offices, etc.), you have to follow a specific European standard called BS EN 16941 to decide on the system's size and setup. If you're using a Grey Water Recycling (GWR) system instead of collecting rainwater — which means reusing water from showers, sinks, etc. — the system must also meet the BS EN 16941 Part 1 or Part 2 standard.

We will require you to include details of your plans as part of your S45 application. 

You will receive a £800 credit per connection against your infrastructure charges. You will still receive the £250 credit per connection for Bronze, so the total credit will be £1050.

We will require you to comply with the Bronze and Silver level standards to apply for Gold.

We’ll help you to achieve water neutrality by providing water efficiency visits and installing water-saving devices in other properties at a discounted rate.

After meeting Bronze and Silver levels, the average daily water use is still about 217 litres/property/day. 

We offer these 7 visits for a subsidised cost of £400 per newly connected property, with Southern Water covering around £300 of the total cost.

This payment will be reflected in your charges as a reduced Silver Incentive Credit in your infrastructure charges. So instead of a credit of £250 + £800 for Silver; you will receive the service from us plus a credit of £250 + £400.

• All applicants for incentives must apply for the incentive at initial quote stage. 
• Incentives must be applied for at the time of initial application. No incentive will be provided for retrospective applications taking place after connecting to our network.
• In general, the incentive rewards will be redeemed against the infrastructure charge. In effect, you will normally receive the environmental incentive at the same time you pay the infrastructure charges. 
• We reserve the right to carry out audits on a sample of properties of every application. Should three properties fail the audit, all further homes from that site will be deemed non-compliant and be disqualified from the incentive scheme. 
• Southern Water will pursue the developer for any disqualified properties which have already received incentive rewards 
• Incentives will be issued as a credit against the infrastructure charge as available at the time of connection unless otherwise agreed. 
• Should the net charge result in a credit to the developer, the credit will be withheld until the connection is made and Southern Water is satisfied that the required efficiency measures have been installed effectively. 
• For NAV and SLP customers, we can audit the homes after final connection but before occupation. Alternatively, we allow the NAV to provide photo validation.

Our simplified entry level wastewater incentive is designed to reward developments that manage their stormwater run-off responsibly. 

You can apply if the final destination of the surface water from your development is to a soakaway or watercourse rather than an existing public combined/surface water sewer.

When you apply for a new water connection or water main, you’ll be prompted to indicate the proposed destination of the surface water. We will check the information you provide to determine if the wastewater infrastructure charge is applicable or not. 

The incentive is worth a £100 credit per plot served by the SuDS, which will be credited against your infrastructure charges. 

This is incentive is available where the discharge from a new development is completely offset by retrofitting sustainable drainage on existing non-permeable sites, such that the reduction in surface water offsets the wastewater discharge from the new development.

Retrofitting SuDS provides a means to separate rainwater from the sewer network and attenuate the effects of sudden rainfall on our wastewater system where the wastewater catchment is at high risk of flooding or storm overflow discharge. We offer a discount on the wastewater infrastructure charge for each new connection where the developer offsets the increased discharge with the equivalent surface water discharge through the disconnection of impermeable areas. Where SuDS have been employed on the development, remediations requirements will be less reflecting the reduced discharge to be offset. The incentive is offered to all new developments, although the remediation would need to be undertaken in identified wastewater system catchments which are at high risk of storm overflow discharge. In cases where the wastewater neutrality incentive is provided, there would be no additional capacity on our wastewater network from the new development. 

A development without SuDS will have to remediate 130m2 of non-permeable surfacing. 

A development with SuDS will have to remediate 100m2 of non-permeable surfacing.

The incentives offers a full discount on the infrastructure charge for each new connection. 

• All applicants for incentives must apply for the incentive at initial quote stage. 
• Incentives must be applied for at the time of initial application. No incentive will be provided for retrospective applications taking place after connecting to our network.
• In general, the incentive rewards will be redeemed against the infrastructure charge. In effect, you will normally receive the environmental incentive at the same time you pay the infrastructure charges. 
• We reserve the right to carry out audits on a sample of properties of every application. Should three properties fail the audit, all further homes from that site will be deemed non-compliant and be disqualified from the incentive scheme. 
• Southern Water will pursue the developer for any disqualified properties which have already received incentive rewards. 
• Incentives will be issued as a credit against the infrastructure charge as available at the time of connection unless otherwise agreed. 
• Should the net charge result in a credit to the developer, the credit will be withheld until the connection is made and Southern Water is satisfied that the required efficiency measures have been installed effectively. 
• For NAV and SLP customers, we can audit the homes after final connection but before occupation. Alternatively, we allow the NAV to provide photo validation.