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Water price increase with bills to rise in 2016/17


Updated on 04 February 2016 | 8 Comments

Water bills are to go up this year, despite a recent report making clear that we already pay too much.

We will all pay an average of £389 on our water bills this year, Water UK has announced. That’s an increase of £2 on the previous year.

Water UK, which represents the nation’s water and sewerage firms, attempted to justify the increase, saying that it was in line with the five-year plans developed by every water firm and confirmed with the regulator Ofwat back in 2014.

Ofwat took credit for the below-inflation rise (it’s the equivalent of 0.2%), with Cathryn Ross, chief executive, saying that this was the result of the regulator’s “tough 2014 price review” at which it had challenged water firms to listen and respond to their customers.

Ross claimed this had led to an additional £3 billion of savings for families across the nation.

But we already overpay!

However, the rise comes just a month after the water industry was slammed by the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for overcharging millions of customers.

The problem is that Ofwat works with the various suppliers to determine a limit that the water firms can charge customers.

And the regulator has consistently overestimated water firms’ financing and tax costs, leaving water firms to enjoy massive windfall gains of well over £1 billion since 2010, a situation that the MPs described as appalling.

So the bill you are already paying too much for is going up yet again!

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You can’t even switch

What makes the situation even worse is that you can’t even shop around for a new supplier, as water is one of the few areas where you are stuck with a single supplier.

That said, the Government has talked about introducing some competition by allowing you to choose between rival suppliers for billing and customer services by the end of this Parliament. You won’t be able to switch who actually supplies the water though.

Struggling to pay

Ofwat admits that unpaid water bills are an increasing problem in England and Wales, a situation that won’t be helped by any price rise, even a relatively small one.

A report from the water regulator back in December found that £2.2 billion is now outstanding in unpaid water bills, with the average cost the equivalent of around £21 a year for every household across the country, compared to £17 back in 2009/10.

While awareness of various support schemes open to struggling customers is increasing, most suppliers have failed to hit their initial targets for customers signing up to social tariffs, which offer cheaper charges to those people struggling to pay their bills.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) said that it had so far helped 15 suppliers to launch these tariffs, with more in the pipeline this year, but more still needs to be done. Tony Smith, chief executive of CCWater, said: “Affordability is still a concern for many low-income households who are already struggling to pay. Our research shows that one in eight customers in England and Wales are already finding it difficult to afford their water bill.”

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Comments



  • 10 February 2016

    I begrudge the amount of Council Tax I have to pay. We live in secluded rural location in Devon. We do not have any street lights. We do not have any roads gritted in icy conditions, or ploughed in snow months. We do not have grit bins provided so we can do it ourselves. We do not have recycling. Our bins can remain un-emptied for weeks in bad weather. We do not get the storm drains cleaned, so we have regular floods on the roads. We have no community services, public amenities or recreational provisions. The Police Station is over 17 miles away and only works 9-5!! We don't have a mobile library etc anymore. However ....... we are in one of the highest billing areas. We pay over £3,200 per year Council Tax!! No, we do not live in a mansion, the only thing that makes our house of 'higher value' is that it has been falsely driven up over the years by wealthy 'incomers' buying 2nd homes etc here for big bucks. Go through the list of what we supposedly get for our Council Tax, and all that is left is a payment towards the Fire Brigade (which I don't mind paying towards even though we've never used them in over 50 years!)

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  • 06 February 2016

    Fifteen years ago I cut my water bills by half by having a meter installed. Since then water costs have hardly increased as I have 10 water butts for garden use and our new appliances are all more water efficient.I would say water bills are moderate . Just look how teh BBC licence fee shot up over teh years whilst losing all teh sporting rights. We should be able to opt out of teh BBC fee it is a disgrace.

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  • 04 February 2016

    Although I work for a water company I was always against privatisation of the water industry. However when compared to how we are ripped off by the big six energy companies and the railway companies I think water bills generally are reasonably good value for money. Even when the bills go up they have always been no more than (and often well below) inflation, compared to the double digit gas, electric and train fare rises over the last 10 years! Water is far more heavily regulated than gas, electric and the railways, and the vast majority of the profits in the industry do not come from water supply or sewage treatment, it is mostly from efficiencies (my company employed over 12,000 people in 1992 and less than 5000 now) and the fact that most water companies have invested heavily in selling their expertise abroad. Yes things are not perfect, but they are getting better which is more than can be said for energy and railways. Also imagine how much would have been invested in water and sewerage if it were still under government control, we would be as heavily cut back on as the local authorities are now!

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