Temporary charge exemptions and discounts

Temporary suspension of all abstractions in your licence

SEPA is offering the following exemption every year, until further notice. If you hold an abstraction licence, but do not intend to abstract any water during the period from 1 April and 31 March, you can apply to SEPA for a temporary exemption from your subsistence charge. This exemption would exist for the financial year.

The exemption applies to an abstraction for any purpose, but will be especially relevant to farmers who decide not to grow certain crops that require irrigation in a particular year. To qualify, you must apply to SEPA between 1 December and 28 February. Simply complete the application letter below and return it to your local SEPA office.

Conditions:

  • The exemption applies only for as long as you refrain from abstracting water under the terms of your authorisation. If at any time during that period you do abstract water, the exemption will immediately cease to have effect and you will be liable for full subsistence charges for the period.

  • Such an act may constitute as an offence and you may, therefore, be subject to enforcement action by SEPA, including a report to the Procurator Fiscal.

  • You will automatically be charged a subsistence fee unless you write to SEPA within the period stated above.

Temporary suspension of some (but not all) abstractions in your licence

If you are planning not to abstract water at some (but not all) of the authorised locations in your licence over the coming year, you will qualify for a reduced annual subsistence charge. This will only apply if the new cumulative daily volume of the abstraction(s) falls into a lower charge band than the one you are currently billed for, or if you fall within a different band for the other charging factors.

Before making an application for exemption, please contact your local SEPA office to discuss. The volume bands in the charging scheme are specified in the table below:

Volume abstracted – bands and factors

Band Volume abstracted per day
1 > 150 ML
2 > 50 to 150 ML
3 > 10 to 50 ML
4 > 2 to 10 ML
5 > 100 to 2,000 m3
6

> 50 to 100 m3
7 0 to 50 m3

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Non-use discounts

In response to feedback from operators, SEPA is introducing a discount for abstractors who, at the end of the year, find that they did not abstract water (due to a wet growing season for example). Where a licence holder demonstrates that water has not been abstracted for a calendar year, a discount of 25% of the licence charge will be deducted from the following year’s charge. Discounts will be applied (if applicable) from April 2010.

To demonstrate that water has not been used an operator must submit a data return form to SEPA (local office address) (as required by the licence) by 31 January indicating that no water had been abstracted the previous year. Data return forms can be found at: http://www.sepa.org.uk/water/water_regulation/regimes/abstraction.aspx.

Please consult your licence for further details on data returns.

The discount will only be available to operators who can demonstrate non-use by meter. SEPA may inspect operators to ensure that meters are in place

Important: Please note that licences with a charge exemption are not also eligible for the wet weather discount.

Please consult your local SEPA office for further information.