Site area charging is the name we give to how we calculate your charges for a service we call surface water and highway drainage. This is one element of your wastewater bill.
In the past your rateable value (or a standing charge based upon your meter size) was used to calculate your surface water and highway drainage charges. However, as rateable values are affected by location, this meant that premises of a similar size were often charged different amounts which didn't accurately reflect the cost of providing our services.
Site area charging takes into consideration both the size (footprint) of your property as well as the external drained areas of your site that drain to our sewer system.
To help our customers adjust to this new calculation method we phased this change in over a three year period, gradually reducing the rateable value calculation and replacing this with site area. This year (2010-2011) your charge for surface water and highway drainage services will be based fully on your site area measurement.
For an explanation of how we calculate your site area measurement, read this.