Water and sewerage bills to drop 2% in England and Wales

Cost of combined bills to fall from April 2015.

Water UK has announced that the average water and sewerage bill in England and Wales will fall by 2% from April 2015.

The reduction will see combined bills fall around £9 to an average of £385 over 2015/16.

The announcement follows a ruling from Ofwat, the water regulator, that bills will fall 5% in real terms over the next five years.

Companies will also deliver a package of measures worth more than £40 million to support households struggling to pay their bills or in debt.

Water UK said 14 out of 18 companies would have social tariffs in place by April. The remaining four will follow in 2016 or consult their customers about introducing a tariff scheme.

How bills will change

The tables below show how average household bills will change over 2015/16 for companies offering water-only, as well as water and sewage services.

Please note that there is some rounding to the figures.

Water and sewerage bills

Company	Average combined bill 2015/16	Percentage change
Anglian	£402	-7%
Dŵr Cymru	£435	-1%
Northumbrian (including Essex & Suffolk)	£371	1%
Severn Trent	£329	-1%
Southern	£482	-3%
South West*	£410	-6%
Thames	£367	-1%
United Utilities	£411	-1%
Wessex	£460	-5%
Yorkshire	£360	-3%

Source: Water UK

*South West Water customers benefit from a Government contribution which reduces their bills by £50 per year.

Anglian customers will see the biggest difference from April with an average water and sewerage bill down £29 from £431 in 2014/15 to £402 in 2015/16.

Meanwhile Northumbrian water and sewerage customers will actually see their average combined bill rise slightly by 1% or around £4 in 2015/16.

See if you can cut your mortgage bill too by comparing deals with lovemoney.com

Water-only bills

Company	Average combined bill 2015/16	Percentage change
Affinity Central region	£172	1%
Affinity East region	£177	-4%
Affinity Southeast region	£221	-1%
Bristol	£174	-16%
Cambridge	£126	-2%
Dee Valley	£139	-4%
Northumbrian- Essex and Suffolk	£229	1%
Portsmouth	£98	2%
SembCorp Bournemouth	£135	-12%
South East	£198	-2%
South Staffordshire	£143	-1%
Sutton and East Surrey	£184	-1%

Source: Water UK

Bristol customers will see the biggest drop in the average water-only bill, down 16% from £208 in 2014/15 to £174 in 2015/16.

Meanwhile Northumbrian and Portsmouth water-only customers will see a slight rise of 1% and 2% respectively.

See if you can cut your mortgage bill too by comparing deals with lovemoney.com

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