Frequently asked questions

If the building is uninhabited, you can opt for 'empty house' advance payments.

For quarterly instalments, the amount is fixed at €30.

For monthly instalments, the amount is fixed at €10.

Go to your Customer Account and enter, correct or delete your bank details.

Would you like to make a written request? Go to the "Help and contact" page.

You can also do this by contacting our Customer Service department on 087/87 87 87.

Compulsory advance payment bills are sent quarterly by default. You can change the frequency via your Customer Account and receive them monthly. As the monthly instalment amounts are lower, they allow you to manage your budget more easily.

Our bills are payable within 15 days. If you do not pay within this period, we will send you a reminder (cost: €6.02) If the bill remains unpaid, we send a final reminder (cost: €6.02).

After these steps, the unpaid bill is handed over to a collection company.

This simulator allows you to calculate your bill based on a volume in m3 and a standard period of 365 days. 

Practical and interesting!

Each year, SWDE sends you three instalment bills (one per quarter) and an adjustment bill (annual) after receiving your meter reading. If you want to manage your budget more flexibly, you can receive monthly instalment bills. Simply contact our Customer Service department. In this case, you should also consider making things easier by setting up a direct debit. With a direct debit your bills are automatically paid on time and you retain control over every amount paid from your account.

You must provide us with your bank account details; go to your Customer Account and enter, correct or delete your bank details.

Did you know that, in addition to avoiding costs linked to late payments, you can decide on the details of your direct debit yourself, i.e.

• Your direct debit date

Depending on when you get paid, you set the date on which your account is debited.

• The maximum debit amount

No unpleasant surprises, you set the maximum amount that can be debited.

• Refuse a direct debit and get your money back

Don't agree with the direct debit?

Up to 8 weeks after the debit, exercise your right of refusal and receive a refund of the amount debited within 48 hours of the request.

The FSE is a financial mechanism, provided for in the Water Code, to help consumers who are finding it difficult to pay their water bill. 

The FSE is provided for by the contributions paid by each consumer when paying their water bills. This contribution is set at €0.025 per m³ of water billed, pegged to the retail price index. 

For example, in 2023, this contribution corresponds to €0.0321 per m³ of water billed. 

As the German-speaking Community has not legislated on this matter, it is only available to residents of the French-speaking Walloon region.  

To apply for assistance from the Water Social Fund, you must contact the public social action centre (CPAS) in your municipality. It decides whether or not to grant the Social Fund’s support depending on the social and financial situation of the household. 

The amount of the support is €611 per year per household up of up to three people. On top of that, there is another €122 per additional person in the household. 

Save precious time with Zoomit! This service allows you to receive and process your bills directly via PC Banking. You save precious time and do your bit for the environment. 

The benefits: 

• you pay when you want, with a simple click via PC Banking; 
• the transfer form is automatically fill in; you no longer need to enter your payment data; 
• you receive your bills in electronic format via PC Banking. If you wish, you can be notified by e-mail when a new bill arrives; 
• all your bills are centralised in one place and kept for 24 months.

Our bills are payable within 15 days. If you do not pay within this period, we will send you a reminder (cost: €6.02). If the bill remains unpaid, we send a final reminder (cost: €6.02) before entrusting the collection of your debt to a collection company. 

More information: Your bills and payments

Yes, you can obtain a debt clearance plan for your adjustment bill via your Customer Account or, on request, fromour Customer Service department . You can choose the number of monthly payments, as long as this does not overlap with the next adjustment bill. 

However, it is not possible to pay your instalment bills in several monthly payments. You can, though, change the frequency to monthly rather than quarterly. By paying your instalments monthly instead of quarterly, they will be lower, which will allow you to spread out the burden of the bill on your household budget more comfortably.

We do not differentiate on the basis of age, number of dependants or special status of our customers. On the other hand, we are willing to grant to customers who so request. 

In addition, the Walloon Government, aware of the difficulty that some people have in paying their water bills, has created the Water Social Fund. This is intended to help people with payment difficulties with financial support. You can apply for this assistance via the public social action centre (CPAS) in your municipality. 

Yes, water suppliers are legally required to establish at least quarterly instalments. Each year you will therefore receive three instalment bills and an annual adjustment bill. The adjustment bill is issued after your meter has been read. Instalments already paid are deducted from its amount.  

In the case of an empty building, the owner is liable for this fee. 

Can I request monthly instalment bills? 

Yes, you can change the frequency of your instalment bills via your Customer Account. They can be changed from quarterly to monthly. The amount of the instalments will then be lower. This allows the burden of the water bill on the household budget to be spread out a little more.

The annual fee is due for each meter. It is intended to cover the benefit deriving from having a water supply. It is billed per calendar year (from 1 to 31 December), regardless of the date of the meter reading. It remains due even if there is no consumption at all. 

This annual fee covers part of SWDE's fixed costs: 

• maintenance of connections; 
• meter depreciation; 
• a contribution to the cost of controls and on-call and response services. 

More information: A clear, understandable, comprehensive bill

When you move into a property, we issue an account opening bill. This includes only the part of the annual fee covering the period between the date of moving in and 31 December of the current year. 

The first bill for actual consumption will be issued at the time of the annual meter reading. In the meantime, you will receive quarterly instalment bills.

Public management of on-site sanitation (GPAA) is provided by the Public Water Management Company (SPGE).  

An installation grant is available for individual wastewater treatment systems installed since 01/01/2018. However, there is no longer an exemption from the CVA on the water bill as of 1 January 2022.  

Other incentives have nevertheless been put in place, such as financing of the main costs linked to monitoring these systems, namely: 

• mandatory periodic maintenance of wastewater treatment systems; 
• emptying excess sludge; 
• financing operational controls. 

For more information, visit the GPAA website.

The amount of your instalments is calculated on the basis of consumption in your most recent period. The three quarterly instalments are intended to cover 3/4 of your next adjustment bill. This means that when you receive that bill, only 1/4 of the amount remains to be paid. 

However, if there is a change in your consumption habits (change in household composition, construction of a swimming pool or pond, etc.), you can adjust the amount of your instalments to suit you, avoiding unpleasant surprises.

First of all, think about checking your spam. If you do not find your bill there, log in to your Customer Account to check if the e-mail address registered in our database is correct. If everything is correct and you still do not receive your bill, contact us via our online form. In the meantime, you will find all your bills in your Customer Account.

Are you afraid of overlooking your bill among all your daily e-mails? 

You can set a specific e-mail address to which we will only send your bills.  

The existing e-mail address will be used for all other correspondence (requests for meter readings, confirmations of changes, various letters).   

To do so, go to "Help and contact" and fill in our online form.

It is important that we are notified of any changes to your contact details.  

To change your e-mail address, log in to your Customer Account and register your new address via the "My details" page.

Provided that you are up-to-date with your payments and that we have your bank account details, the payment will be made 14 days after the due date.

Yes, you can set the details of your direct debit yourself: 

• via your Customer Account, you can choose the date the payment is debited and choose the bank account for your direct debit; 
• via your bank, you can choose a maximum amount that can be debited or contest a debit up to 8 weeks after the debit date.

You can obtain a debt settlement plan for your adjustment, opening or closing bills by activating it on your Customer Account. 

You can choose between 2 and 9 monthly instalments, as long as your plan is fully paid up before the next adjustment bill.   

The minimum monthly payment is €25.  

Please note, however, that it is not possible to pay your instalment bills in several monthly payments.   

However, you can change their frequency and/or amount via your Customer Account.

If you do not owe money on an annual adjustment/opening/closing bill you do not have access to the debt settlement plan request.  

If you had a debt settlement plan but missed a deadline or failed to pay the exact amount, your plan is deactivated and you cannot create a new one.  

In this case, you should contact our Customer Service department, which, depending on your situation, may grant you a new debt settlement plan.

If you have an active direct debit on the account covered by the debt settlement plan, your monthly payments will be deducted via direct debit.   

If you have opted for a fixed debit date, your monthly payments will be debited on the date you have set. 

Go to your Customer Account.

The new law, which comes into force on 1 September this year, targets situations deemed "abusive" where an initial reminder had already been sent less than two weeks after the bill was issued, with very high administrative costs.

It now requires the first reminder to be free of charge, and stipulates that the second reminder can only be issued a minimum of two weeks after the first reminder, with a maximum administrative charge of €7.50.

The new law only applies where no rules previously existed.  It does not therefore affect water bills, which have long followed the constraints dictated by regional law, better known as the "Walloon Water Code".

Under this regional legislation, the first reminder for the water bill is chargeable, but only after one month, with administrative costs limited to €6.02.

Several parameters enter into water pricing.  

The cost of water can be divided into four items:  

• the True cost of supply (CVD);  
• the True cost of sanitation (CVA); 
• the Water Social Fund; 
• VAT. 

Find all our explanations on our page “Water has a cost”.

The price of water changes every year depending on various parameters.  

In 2023, 100 m³ will cost around €565,73.  

Find all the information you need on our page The cost of water.