Help with your bill

Everyone needs essential water services, but we know that unforeseen events such as an illness or relationship breakdown may make it hard to pay your bill.

Watch our video to see how we can help.

If you need help in another language, please call our free interpreter service on 13 14 50.

What we offer

Flexible payment options

Extend your due date for a short time or set up a payment plan to make regular, fortnightly or monthly payments.

Call 13 20 92 to use our automated payment extension service or speak to an operator.

Make deductions from your Centrelink payment, straight to your Sydney Water account.

If you own your property and receive Centrelink payments, call us on 13 20 92 to set up this free service for you.

If you're a tenant, call Centrelink or visit their website for more information.

Payment Assistance Scheme (PAS) credits

Our Payment Assistance Scheme (PAS) provides emergency relief to customers struggling to pay their water bill.

If you own and live in your home, or are a tenant who pays your own water usage (have your own meter):

call us on 13 20 92
visit one of our community agencies for a confidential assessment of your individual circumstances.

Our qualified case coordinators, or one of our accredited community agencies, will talk to you about your situation. If you're eligible, they'll apply PAS credits directly to your Sydney Water bill to reduce your debt.

PlumbAssist®

We offer a plumbing service for customers who are experiencing financial difficulty and need essential or emergency plumbing work.

To qualify for this service, you must be:

the owner and occupier of your home
experiencing financial hardship
unable to afford essential or emergency plumbing repairs.

Please call us on 13 20 92 to see if you're eligible for the PlumbAssist® service.

What is essential or emergency work?
This includes repairing or replacing leaking or broken toilets, taps and pipes, and fixing concealed leaks.

BillAssist®

BillAssist^® is our customer assistance program for people experiencing longer-term payment difficulties.

Our qualified community service staff can help you manage payment difficulties or growing bills and debt. Your dedicated case coordinator will:

confidentially talk to you about your situation
provide you with a range of support options and advice tailored to your needs.

If you’re having trouble paying your bills, call us on 13 20 92. Ask to speak to our Customer Care team.

Pension rebates

If you receive an aged, disability or service pension or government allowance, you may be eligible for a pension rebate on your bill each quarter.

Simply claim your pensioner rebate online or call us on 13 20 92.

Other help and support

If you need help with other matters, call these other useful services.

Accredited community agencies

For help with your bill, visit one of our accredited community agencies.

Find answers

How can pensioners get a rebate on their bill?
We provide a NSW Government funded rebate to help pensioners. This includes people on Age, Disability Support, and Service pensions.

You're eligible for a pensioner rebate if you own and live in your property, and have one of these cards:
- a Pensioner Concession Card from Centrelink or the Department of Veterans' Affairs
- a Repatriation Health Card from Department of Veterans' Affairs (also known as a gold card).
Your card must show one of these options:
- War widow
- War widower
- Extreme disablement adjustment (EDA)
- Totally and temporarily incapacitated (TTI)
- Totally and permanently incapacitated (TPI).
If you have one of these cards, own your property and live in it, please claim your pensioner rebate.
How much do we charge if you pay your bill by credit or debit card?

We charge a 0.4% card processing fee for direct credit and debit card payments. There's no fee for card payments through BPay.

Direct Debit is the easiest way to pay
Register for Direct Debit and we'll automatically process your bill payments on the due date each quarter using your preferred payment method. If you choose to pay from your bank account, you'll avoid the payment fee.

Find out more about Direct Debit!

Visit our Payment options page to find out about other ways to pay.
How can you get a refund if you've paid your bill twice?
If you've paid your bill twice, you can:
- request a refund from us
- leave the payment on your account as a credit on your next bill.
If you'd like a refund, please call us on 13 20 92.

You'll need to have your account number and proof of both payments.

Your account number is in the top right corner of your bill.
How can we help if you're unable to pay your bill?
We'll make it easy if you need help with your bill.

Simply call us on 13 20 92 and we'll work together to get on top of your bill.

We can offer you a payment plan or more support if you need it.

Learn more about how we can help with your bill.
What can you do if you don't think you've used as much water as shown on your bill?
If you've just received your bill and feel the water usage charge is too high, there are a few things you can check.

How to check you meter reading is accurate

Firstly, check the meter reading on your bill is correct. To do this, read the black numbers on your meter, then check the second page of your bill. If the numbers on the meter are a little higher than 'This Reading', the reading is correct.

If it's lower than 'This Reading', please call us on 13 20 92 with the correct reading and we can adjust it for you.

What to do if your meter reading is accurate

If the meter reading is correct, you may wish to do a simple test to check for a hidden leak. Find out more about leak detection.

It's also a good idea to consider any possible reasons for an increase in water use, including:
- changes in weather
- extra people staying at your property
- filling a pool
- watering new turf or gardens
- changing a hot water system or other plumbing appliances.
If you still think your water use is unreasonably high, you can pay to request a water meter test. We suggest this as a last resort, as meters are found to be accurate 80-90% of the time.

If the meter is found to be faulty, we'll adjust your water use charge and refund the meter test fee. If the meter is recording accurately, we won't refund the test fee.