United Utilities Contact Number - Phone, Emergency Line & Opening Hours

United Utilities contact number

The United Utilities customer service number for bills, accounts and general enquiries is 0345 672 2888 for unmetered properties and 0345 672 2999 for metered properties. Both lines are open Monday to Thursday 8am to 7pm, Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm, closed on Sundays and bank holidays. Calls are charged at the standard UK local rate and are usually included in inclusive minutes bundles on mobile and landline plans, so most callers pay nothing extra.

United Utilities supplies water and wastewater services to roughly 7 million people across the North West of England — Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and part of Derbyshire, including the whole of the Lake District. It is the largest listed water company in the UK and, like every English water supplier, holds a regional monopoly: households cannot switch to a different domestic provider, which makes picking the right contact line the only realistic way to get a quick answer.

If you only need to read your meter, view a balance or pay a bill, the My Account portal at unitedutilities.com handles all of that 24/7 and is normally faster than queueing on the phone. The phone lines are best used when something is wrong — a disputed charge, a move, an emergency, or a request for extra support.

Source: unitedutilities.com customer contact directory, verified June 2026. Calls to 0345 numbers cost no more than a standard UK landline call and are usually included in inclusive minutes plans; 0800 numbers are free from any UK landline or mobile.

Before you dial, have your United Utilities account number ready — it is printed at the top of your most recent bill and on any direct debit confirmation. The advisor will also ask for the property postcode, and if you are metered, the latest reading. Spending 30 seconds writing these down avoids a five-minute identity check on the line.

United Utilities emergency number

The United Utilities emergency number is 0345 672 3723, open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including bank holidays. Use it for burst pipes, water bubbling up in the street, no water at the tap, low pressure across a street, discoloured or oddly tasting tap water, blocked drains and any sewage flooding. The line is also the right one if you are unsure whose pipework is at fault — the advisor will dispatch a technician or redirect you to the responsible party.

You do not need to be a United Utilities customer to report a problem. If you spot a leak on the public network anywhere from Carlisle to Crewe, ring 0345 672 3723 even if you live outside the North West — reporting early is the single most useful thing the public can do to help meet the company's leakage targets set by Ofwat.

Before calling, do a 30-second check to confirm whose responsibility the issue is. United Utilities owns the mains and public sewer up to the boundary of your property; anything beyond the outside stop tap — internal pipework, the cold-water tank in the loft, taps, toilets and your own drains — belongs to the homeowner and is a job for a plumber. Our guide on what to do when there is no water in the house walks through the diagnostic steps and the order to ring each party.

The 24/7 line opens with a short three-option menu that routes the call straight to a network technician rather than a billing advisor:

1. Problem with your clean water or wastewater — connects to a technician.
2. Speak to a representative about your bill — connects to billing (only useful during office hours).
3. Make a card payment — opens an automated payment line.

For Options 1 and 2 you will reach a human advisor; Option 3 is fully automated and requires your account number. If you are unsure which option fits, press 1 — the technician team can transfer you internally if it turns out to be a billing query.

Metered or unmetered customer: which number to call

United Utilities runs two parallel billing lines — 0345 672 2888 for unmetered customers and 0345 672 2999 for metered customers — because the two account types have different menu options and different teams behind them. Calling the wrong line is the single most common reason customers say they could not reach the right advisor; you will be transferred, but it adds 5 to 10 minutes to your call.

If no water meter is installed at your property, you are unmetered and your bill is calculated from the property's rateable value (a notional rental valuation set before 1990). If a meter is fitted — traditional or smart — you are metered and you pay for the volume of water actually used, measured in cubic metres (m³). Roughly half of United Utilities households are now metered; most newer-build homes are metered by default and any household can request a free meter installation.

Unmetered customers: phone menu

Calling 0345 672 2888 opens with a short prompt asking you to press 1 if your call concerns no water, poor pressure, water discolouration, blocked drains, a visible leak or to check the identity of a United Utilities employee at your door. If your enquiry is about something else, hold the line and the main menu plays after a few seconds — it has just two options:

1. Card payment (have your account number to hand).
2. Moving house (new account, transfer, or close-out).

For any other query, do nothing and the system transfers you to a human advisor. Press 1 within the card-payment option if you do not have your account number — an agent will take the payment manually.

Metered customers: phone menu

Calling 0345 672 2999 opens with the same emergency prompt as the unmetered line. The metered main menu then offers three options:

1. Card payment.
2. Meter reading (automated — log the figure without speaking to anyone).
3. Moving house.

As with the unmetered line, holding without pressing anything routes you to a human advisor. The meter reading option is by far the fastest way to submit a reading by phone: it takes about a minute, runs round the clock and does not require waiting for the office to open. If you would rather submit it online, the My Account portal accepts a typed reading instantly.

Bill support and Priority Services Register

United Utilities supports more than 380,000 customers through its affordability schemes — anyone struggling to keep up with their water bill or with extra needs at home can register over the phone in around 10 minutes. The two key numbers are 0800 072 6765 for the Help to Pay / affordability team and 0345 072 6093 for the Priority Services Register. Both calls are free or local-rate, and registering on either does not affect any other benefit or account discount.

Help to Pay (struggling with bills)

If you are behind on your water bill or worry you will fall behind, ring the free affordability line on 0800 072 6765. The team can match you to one of several named schemes; the earlier you ask, the more options remain on the table.

• Back on Track — a reduced tariff for customers in long-term financial hardship ;
• Payment Break — a short-term pause on water bill payments while finances recover ;
• Payment Matching — United Utilities matches the money you pay to help clear arrears faster ;
• WaterSure — caps the metered bill for low-income households with high essential water use (large families, certain medical conditions) ;
• Lowest Bill Guarantee — switches you back to rateable value if a meter ends up costing more than the unmetered charge in the first two years ;
• £5 direct debit discount — applied annually on any bill paid by monthly direct debit.

If you also receive Universal Credit, Pension Credit, Income Support or a comparable benefit, mention this when you call — eligibility for several schemes is tied to those benefits and the advisor can confirm in real time. Our WaterSure scheme guide explains the national cap in more detail.

Priority Services Register

The Priority Services Register is a free, opt-in list of customers who need extra help during a planned interruption or an unplanned outage. It is open to anyone with a long-term medical condition, a disability, dialysis at home, hearing or visual impairments, mental health difficulties, pregnancy or young children — and to short-term registrants recovering from surgery or a bereavement. Sign up by calling 0345 072 6093 or through the My Account portal.

Registered customers receive a priority call-back during outages, bottled-water deliveries when the supply is interrupted, a password scheme to confirm the identity of anyone calling at the door, and large-print or braille bills on request. A free British Sign Language interpreter service is available 8am to 8pm, seven days a week via the United Utilities website.

Moving home and bereavement

Two dedicated teams handle the most stressful account changes — moves and bereavement. Both can be reached through the standard billing line, but the direct numbers shave several minutes off the wait and route you to specialists who deal with these cases all day. Have the dates, addresses and account numbers ready before you call: it cuts the conversation roughly in half.

Moving home

The United Utilities moving-home line is 0345 026 7661, open Monday to Thursday 8am to 7pm, Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm. Use it whether you are moving in, moving out within the North West, or leaving the region entirely — the team registers new accounts, transfers existing ones and produces a final bill on completion day. You can also register a move online through My Account, usually faster than the phone for straightforward cases.

Give the team at least two working days' notice if possible. They will ask for the move-in or move-out date, the new and old addresses, the names of everyone over 18 in the new household, and any meter reading you have taken on the day of completion. If you are leaving the United Utilities area, the team also closes the account — there is no transfer between English water companies because each is a regional monopoly.

Bereavement

The United Utilities bereavement helpline is freephone on 0800 912 7249, open Monday to Thursday 8am to 7pm, Friday 8am to 6pm and Saturday 8am to 1pm. Specialist advisors handle account closures, transfers to a surviving partner, and the practical questions that arise when a loved one has died. You will not be asked to send a death certificate over the phone; the team logs your call, suspends the account and writes to you with the documents needed to settle the balance.

Other ways to contact United Utilities

If you would rather skip the phone, United Utilities offers several written and online channels. Most routine tasks — submitting a meter reading, paying a bill, updating your details, setting up a direct debit, registering a move — can be completed without speaking to anyone through the My Account portal, which is open 24/7. Phone lines are best reserved for emergencies, complex queries and anyone who needs a verbal explanation.

Write to United Utilities

For formal complaints, Subject Access Requests and anything else that needs a paper trail, write to the registered head office in Warrington. Always include your United Utilities account number and a daytime phone number so the customer relations team has a way to follow up; queries sent by post tend to take longer than a phone call or email.

United Utilities Water Limited
Haweswater House, Lingley Mere Business Park
Lingley Green Avenue
Great Sankey
Warrington WA5 3LP

How to make a complaint to United Utilities

United Utilities follows the three-stage complaints process required of every English water company by Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water (CCW). The company aims to send a substantive reply within 10 working days of receiving a complaint, and most cases are resolved at the first stage without needing to escalate.

Remember that you cannot switch domestic water supplier in the UK — every household is locked to its regional company. The complaints process and the two independent escalation bodies (CCW and WATRS) exist precisely because the market is a monopoly: they replace the competitive pressure that exists in energy or broadband.

Step 1 – Raise the complaint with United Utilities

Start by ringing the standard billing line — 0345 672 2888 for unmetered customers or 0345 672 2999 for metered customers — or by writing to the head office at Haweswater House, Warrington WA5 3LP. You can also submit the online complaints form from the United Utilities website. Quote your account number, the property postcode, a clear description of what went wrong and the outcome you want. Keep a note of the date, the advisor's name and any reference number.

Step 2 – Request a formal review

If the first response does not resolve the issue, ask in writing for the complaint to be escalated to an agent who has not previously been involved. They will carry out an independent internal review and reply in writing within another 10 working days. If you are still unhappy, request a deadlock letter — it is the document the external escalation bodies require to open a case.

Step 3 – Consumer Council for Water (CCW)

Once you hold a deadlock letter, or if the complaint remains unresolved 8 weeks after you first raised it, send it to the Consumer Council for Water. CCW is the statutory consumer body for the water sector in England and Wales and will review your case for free.

Source: ccwater.org.uk published contact directory, verified June 2026.

Step 4 – Water Redress Scheme (WATRS)

If CCW cannot reach a settlement, the final route is the Water Redress Scheme (WATRS), an independent adjudicator funded by the industry. WATRS issues a written decision that is legally binding on United Utilities but not on you — if you reject the outcome, you keep the right to take the dispute to court. CCW will tell you when your case is ready for WATRS; you cannot go straight to WATRS without exhausting CCW first.

Contact WATRS on 0207 520 3801 or via watrs.org. The postal address is:

WATRS
Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution
International Dispute Resolution Centre
70 Fleet Street
London EC4Y 1EU

United Utilities contact FAQ

Useful United Utilities and UK water guides

If you came looking for a phone number and now want to dig further, our other guides cover United Utilities itself, the wider UK water market and the practical questions that often follow a call to customer services. The starting point is the supplier overview, which links to the rest of the cluster.

• United Utilities: tariffs, login and moving home — coverage area, charges and how the supplier compares to the rest of the UK water market.
• United Utilities water meter — how to request a free meter, take a reading and switch back if it costs more than rateable value.
• Pay your United Utilities bill — every payment method, direct debit discount and what to do if a payment fails.
• All UK water suppliers — find the right water company for your postcode and compare contact numbers across the regional monopolies.
• UK water bills explained — average costs, metering rules and the regulators that set what you can be charged.
• How to read your water meter — step-by-step guide so you can give the right figure when you ring the automated reading line.
• WaterSure scheme — national cap on metered bills for low-income households with high essential use.
• No water in the house? What to check first — whose pipework is whose, and the order in which to call United Utilities versus a plumber.