Water bills to increase by 5.7%
Regulator Ofwat announces price rises for 2012/13 - see how much your supplier is set to charge.
Water and sewerage bills in England and Wales will increase by an average of 5.7% this year, regulator Ofwat says.
Ofwat says the average bill will be £376 for 2012/13. The changes will come into effect on 1st April 2012 and last until 31st March 2013.
It claims that this is around 10% lower than suppliers wanted, before inflation is factored in. The new increase is 0.5% above the Retail Prices Index inflation figure of 5.2% from November last year.
Ofwat says that the average bill is on track to be in line with inflation by 2015.
Here’s how the individual companies’ average bills will look following the increase:
|
Company |
Average combined increase in water and sewerage costs |
Average cost of water and sewerage bill |
% change in average cost of water and sewerage bill |
|
Southern |
£31 |
£416 |
8.2% |
|
Thames |
£21 |
£339 |
6.7% |
|
Yorkshire |
£21 |
£361 |
6.1% |
|
Wessex |
£26 |
£455 |
6% |
|
Northumbrian Essex & Suffolk |
£12 (water only) |
£217 (water only) |
5.9% |
|
Anglian |
£22 |
£423 |
5.4% |
|
Northumbrian (excluding Essex & Suffolk) |
£17 |
£352 |
5.1% |
|
Severn Trent |
£16 |
£325 |
5% |
|
South West |
£24 |
£543 |
4.7% |
|
United Utilities |
£18 |
£395 |
4.7% |
|
Dwr Cymru |
£16 |
£427 |
3.8% |
The figures above do not include water-only companies, whose bills will increase by an average of 4.7%. Bristol is imposing the steepest average increase at 8.8%, while bills from Veolia Central will only rise by an average of 1.8%.
The amount your bill will increase by will depend on both your water company and whether or not you have a water meter installed.
Ofwat says water companies are investing £22 billion by 2015 to improve water treatment works and sewage treatment works, among other projects.
More: How to cut your water bill | Ten ways to find a good area to move to
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Comments
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Here in the south west I see that water bills are still obscenely high - due to a small number of population paying for maintenance of large amount of coastline. And no word from South West Water why prices remain high after their huge Operation Cleansweep has come to an end. Someone is making a LOT of money...
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I wondered about catching rainwater, and how it would affect my sewage bills, but I had a suspicion that I'd be fined if I did it without letting the water company know. Rainwater would certainly reduce what I take from the main, but it wouldn't reduce what goes down the sewer, and I'm sure the water company is aware of that! I would expect my water bill to halve, but my sewerage bill to stay the same, saving 25%, not 50%. This is, however, only surmise - I haven't actually enquired, but life doesn't often provide me with a win.
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Should encourage the use of rainwater harvesting systems. Not only do you save about 50% of the water you take from the water company, you also reduce your sewage bills by a similar percentage, because this charge is based on the water taken from the water companies. You can get a rainwater harvesting system installed for under £2000. While this may seem a lot, it will save you up to £2700 over 10 years. (Payback is approx 8 years.) Rainwater is FREE! You will also be insulated against future water price increases - by the same ~50%.
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31 January 2012