Coronavirus - support for our customers

We wanted to let you know what we’re doing in response to the Coronavirus outbreak to protect our staff and customers.

We’re following the government health advice to make sure our customers and our colleagues stay safe, and we are putting all the necessary measures in place to ensure this advice is followed by everyone.

We understand this is a challenging time for everybody and we’ve put our robust business continuity plans into action so we can make sure we can still supply our water services to all of our customers in the South East.

Research from the World Health Organisation shows that the virus cannot survive the water treatment process.

Priority Services

We want to make it easy for you to get the support you need.

If you or any of your family and friends have particular health issues and haven’t yet registered for Priority Services, then please visit www.affinitywater.co.uk/priorityservices.

This means we can be fully aware of your needs and do our best to support you in terms of your water services. If you know someone who isn’t online then you can register them on their behalf.

Payment

We’re also aware that many people will be affected financially by the impact of Coronavirus. We want to be absolutely clear that nobody’s water supply will be disconnected because they are struggling to pay their bills during this period.

We already have a number of schemes in place to help those who need financial support, including anyone who may have recently lost their job or been asked to take unpaid leave.

Support for those affected includes payment breaks, different tariffs and spreading the cost of your bill.

We want to make it easy for everyone affected to get the support they need as quickly as possible. Please register your details using our payment plan form and one of our team will be in touch to help.

You can also explore and access the options for support directly by using the following links:

• If you would like to discuss payment breaks or spreading the cost of your bill request a payment plan
• If you have a water meter, and consume a lot of water because you have a large family or a medical condition our WaterSure scheme can help make sure you’re only paying for the water you use.
• Learn more about schemes to help with sewerage charges. We collect charges on behalf of your waste water provider. They also have schemes to help those struggling with their bills.
• If you are claiming benefits or you have a household income of less than £16,105 excluding benefits, we can help you move onto a low income fixed social tariff.
• If you are in arrears, can't pay your current bill and are receiving benefits our Water Direct scheme in partnership with the DWP can help.
• If you need financial advice independent debt advice is available. We have partnered with National Debtline and more information and a link on the help and support available is here.

Keeping in touch with us

We continue to have various ways you can contact us online, via social media and using our online account management service My Account.

Our phone lines continue to remain open as normal if you do wish to speak to us directly, however wherever possible we are asking those who can complete their query online, to do so. This will help us answer the phone faster to the customers who really need us right now.

We have many ways of keeping customers up to date including our website, Twitter or Facebook feeds and an automated telephone message service – we will use these to keep customers updated as the situation evolves.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation and please continue to follow NHS advice www.nhs.uk/coronavirus