Approval for consumership may be granted in accordance with Section 7 of Waterworks Ordinance:

"The Water Authority may approve, as the consumer of a fire service or inside service in any premises, any person who -

(a) occupies the premises; or
(b) is responsible for the management of the premises or any part thereof; and
(c) gives an undertaking, in such form as the Water Authority may specify, -

1. to pay any charge due in respect of the fire service or inside service; and


2. to accept responsibility for the custody and maintenance of the fire service or inside service and the custody of any meter pertaining to the fire service or inside service."

Moving In (Taking Up Accounts)

Any person who occupies the premises or is responsible for the management of the premises, should apply to be the registered consumer of water supply. Application can be made in the name of a person or a company. Both domestic and non-domestic applicants are required to complete an undertaking [Form WWO 1] and pay a water deposit. The form is available at any of our Customer Enquiry Centres(CEC), the District Offices, through the Water Supplies Department (WSD) Enquiry Hotline, or the Department's web site.

In Person

Applications in person at our Customer Enquiry Centres (CEC) will normally be completed in 15 minutes and the consumer may pay the water deposit at the same time. However, for applications in person to effect a change of consumership on a date set beyond one month from the application date, our CECs will process the application in due course. The deposit demand note will be sent to the applicant by post after the effective date.

By Post or Fax

Application may be made by post or fax (if application is made by fax, applicant is allowed to apply for domestic or flushing supplies in personal capacity only). The completed Form WWO 1 should be sent together with a photocopy of the applicant's Hong Kong Identity Card or the Business Registration Certificate as appropriate to WSD. Applications will normally be approved in 7 working days.

By Phone

Application for taking-up of domestic supply in the applicant's personal name may also be made by calling WSD Enquiry Hotline.

Through Internet

Application may also be made through Internet (applicant is allowed to apply for domestic or flushing supplies in personal capacity only) provided that there is water supply to the premises. For cases where there is no water supply to the premises or the water supply has been disconnected, i.e. the meters have been removed, please either come to our Customer Enquiry Centres or download the WWO 542 Form to apply for water supply and then submit the completed form by post or fax (applicant is allowed to apply for domestic or flushing supplies in personal capacity only), or in person.

Applicants may be requested to produce documentary evidence such as solicitor's letter, tenancy agreement, purchase agreement, etc. to support that they are not responsible for the outstanding water charges of the existing registered consumer.

In line with our policy of providing customer-oriented service, for domestic accounts we will process a take-up application irrespective of whether the existing registered consumer has applied for the closure of his/her account or not. There will be delays if we only process and approve those applications that the existing registered customers have applied for closure of accounts or have already been granted approval for their applications. For example, new tenants of rented premises may suffer long delays in taking up the accounts from the previous registered consumers as they usually do not have knowledge of the previous tenants and thus cannot make contact with them to request closure of accounts. In practice, once we have received an application for change of consumership, a new account will be set up for the new customer to facilitate the issue of deposit demand note and the arrangement for maintaining water supply to the premises. We will also issue a final bill to the existing registered customer with a bill message advising him/her that his/her consumership has been terminated and he/she may contact us if they have any enquiries.

Moving Out (Closing Accounts)

The deposit for a domestic account is usually $400. Many registered consumers - some because they had lost the deposit receipts, some simply considered the amount of the deposit was not worth their taking the trouble to request refund - did not apply for closure of accounts when they moved out of their premises. However, so far as they were the registered consumers, they would remain liable for payment of water charges in respect of their former premises although they had physically moved out and did not use the water concerned. In many cases their lack of action had led to heavy financial losses, which in some cases were as high as tens of thousand dollars.

To protect their own interest, registered customers when cease to be the owner, tenant or occupier of the premises should submit their applications for closure of accounts to the Water Supplies Department 14 days before the actual termination dates. Please click here for details of application for closure of account.