Jump to the beginning of content

Moving In - Taking Up Accounts

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

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

1. occupies the premises; or
2. is responsible for the management of the premises or any part thereof; and

3. 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."

In this regard, the person who occupies or is responsible for the management of the premises is required to make an application for taking up the water consumership of the premises. Please note that a deceased person cannot undertake the responsibilities of a registered consumer as stipulated in the Waterworks Ordinance and Waterworks Regulations.  If no application is received, we may disconnect the water supply.  Once the supply is disconnected, the consumer has to pay a reconnection fee for reconnecting the inside service.

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.    Both domestic and non-domestic applicants are required to give an undertaking and to pay a water deposit and charges required by the Waterworks Ordinance and Waterworks Regulations.  If there is outstanding water charges in the ex-registered consumer’s account, applicant may be requested to produce documents such as solicitor’s letter, stamped tenancy agreement, or purchases agreement, etc. for our verification of the effective date of taking up of consumership.
 
Application can be made in personal capacity or in the name of a company through the following channels:

Through Internet

Applications may be made through the Internet (for applications for domestic or flushing supplies in personal capacity only) provided that there are water supplies to the premises. In general, online take-up application will be completed within 7 working days after the provision of all the required information ^{(Note 1)}.

Note 1: For cases where there are no water supplies to the premises or the water supplies have been disconnected, (i.e. the meters have been removed) please either come to our CECs or download Form WWO 542 to apply for water supply. The completed form can be submitted by post or fax or email to WSD or in person at any one of WSD’s CECs.

By Post, By Fax or By Email

Applications may be made either by post or by fax or by email. The completed application form ^{(Note 2)} should be sent together with a photocopy of the applicant's Hong Kong Identity Card or Passport or the Business Registration Certificate as appropriate to the Water Supplies Department (WSD).  Applications will normally be completed within 7 working days.

Note 2: The forms are also available at our Customer Enquiry Centres (CEC), through the WSD’s Enquiry Hotline or WSD's website.

In Person

The completed application form (Form WWO 1 or Form WWO 1145 or WWO 542) can be submitted in person at any one of WSD’s CEC. In general, the processing time is within 15 minutes after the provision of all the required information. The consumer may collect the deposit demand note at the same time if the change of consumership is effective on or before the date of application. However, for applications in person to effect a change of consumership on a date set beyond one month from the application date, CECs may only process the application in due course. The deposit demand note will be sent to the applicant by post after the effective date.

By Phone

Applications for taking-up of domestic supply or flushing supply in personal capacity may be made by calling the WSD’s Enquiry Hotline. In general, the processing time is within 15 minutes after the provision of all the required information.

Providing meter reading taken on the effective date of taking up of consumership

To avoid probable dispute over the initial reading of the meter, new occupier is encouraged to take meter reading on the effective date of change of consumership if situation allows and provide the reading to the WSD. After being considered by the WSD as appropriate, water charges of the first bill issued to the new occupier will be calculated based on this reading. For application submitted jointly by the new occupier and the ex-registered consumer through a completed Form WWO 1145, the reading provided will also be used for issue of final bill to the ex-registered consumer.

Policy Adopted in Processing Applications

In line with our policy of providing customer-oriented service, 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 are to process and approve only those applications where the existing registered consumers 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 as they usually do not have knowledge of the previous tenants and thus cannot make contact with them to request closure of the accounts. In practice, once we have received an application for taking-up of an account, a new account will be set up for the new consumer to facilitate the issue of the deposit demand note and the arrangement for maintaining water supply to the premises. We will also separately issue a written notification and then a final bill to the closed account’s mailing address with a bill message advising the ex-registered consumer that his/her consumership has been terminated and he/she may contact us if he/she has any enquiries.