TRP
Please note that all figures in this page refer to 2009. For up to date figures please click here to download the latest water charges sheet.
As of 1st January 2009, Guernsey Water will no longer be using a property's Rateable Value (RV) to calculate water charges for customers who do not have a water meter - instead, your property's Tax on Real Property (TRP) figure will be used to calculate your bill.
The States of Guernsey as a whole introduced the TRP system as a replacement for RV back in March 2006. The RV system dated back to 1947, and used subjective assessment to ascertain the rental potential of a property, which led to some confusion and a lack of consistency.
The new TRP system is much simpler, and completely objective, as it relies on the measurement of a property in square metres. To learn more about the new TRP system and how it differs from RV, Treasury and Resources have put together an information leaflet which you can download here.
What the Changes Mean to Unmetered Customers
As mentioned above, if you are an unmetered customer, your bill will change from 1st January 2009 to show that you are being charged for your water usage based on the TRP of your property rather than the RV.
TRP is calculated on the square meterage of a property, and for water charging purposes, the rate has been levied at £0.41 per square meter (for 2009). Bear in mind that Guernsey Water will only charge for domestic buildings, and will ignore land, greenhouses and other outbuildings.
As part of the change from RV to TRP, Guernsey Water have also taken the opportunity to look at the standing charges that are levied for metered and unmetered customers. At present, the charge for metered customers is lower than that for unmetered customers. However, Guernsey Water feel that this does not fairly reflect the costs for installing, reading and maintaining the meters.
Therefore, it has been decided to make both standing charges the same - so the metered charge will increase from £20.31 to £26.93 per quarter, whilst the unmetered charge will decrease from £34.93 to £26.93 (figures for 2009).
In summary, for an unmetered customer, your standing charge will decrease, and you will be charged for your water bill at a rate of £0.41 for each square meter of domestic building within your property.
The changes will mean that some customers' bills increase, while others decrease. If unmetered customers find that their bills have increased, then they can have a water meter installed. On average, a water meter will save a customer 10 - 12% on their bills. To find out more about water meters, please click here.
What the Changes Mean to Metered Customers
As mentioned above, it has been decided to make both standing charges the same - so the metered charge will increase from £20.31 to £26.93 per quarter. In addition to this, the usual annual RPI increase will be added to customer bills (4.8%, added to both metered and unmetered customers' charges), so the charge per cubic metre of water used will increase from £1.53 to £1.60 (figures for 2009).
In summary, for a metered customer, your standing charge and water usage charge will increase. However, on average you will still be paying less than an unmetered customer, regardless of the changes.
Some Important Points To Note:
- Guernsey Water will not be receiving increased income from these changes.
- The decision to incorporate TRP was forced upon Guernsey Water by the States, and the organisation has worked hard to incorporate it and the revised standing charges into its billing process whilst maintaining the same level of income, and without having too much of a negative impact on customer bills.
- All of these changes were ratified by the States of Guernsey at their September 2008 meeting.
- Ultimately, some customers will find their bills increasing, whilst others will find their's decreasing.
In order to give as much information to customers as possible, Guernsey Water have put together a leaflet explaining all of the changes. This leaflet was posted out to all customers in October 2008, and you can also download a pdf of the leaflet by clicking here.
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