Water firms push for bills in England to rise by up to 40%, say reports

 

Water firms push for bills in England to rise by up to 40%, say reports

 

Plans drawn up to pay for cost of dealing with sewage crisis and climate emergency

 

Julia Kollewe

Wed 28 Jun 2023 09.38 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/water-firms-push-for-bills-in-england-to-rise-by-up-to-40-per-cent-say-reports-sewage-climate

 

Water companies are reportedly pushing for bills in England to rise by up to 40% under plans being drawn up to pay for the cost of dealing with the sewage crisis and the climate emergency.

 

The increases are due to be announced next year and could drive annual bills up from an average of £450 to £680 in parts of the country by the end of the decade, according to a Times report citing public consultation documents.

 

Most companies are asking the regulator to approve real-terms price increases of an average of 25% between 2025 and 2030, it reported. Thames Water is reportedly proposing rises of 20%, while Wessex Water wants to put up its prices by 30%.

 

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, discussed the bill increases at a meeting on Wednesday with the water regulator Ofwat and other watchdogs. He was also due to ask regulators how they are cracking down on companies that are exploiting rampant consumer inflation by raising prices.

 

The chairman of the National Infrastructure Commission said the price increases are “probably not unrealistic”.

 

Sir John Armitt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “By 2050, the Environment Agency and the water companies believe that about £50bn needs to be invested to get sewage overflows down to an acceptable level.

 

“We have previously estimated that £20bn needs to go into ensuring that we have sufficient water by 2050. So as you can see, you’re talking about very large sums of money to restore and enable our water infrastructure and our sewage infrastructure to be fit for purpose.”

 

Armitt added: “As a country, we have to decide what quality, what level of infrastructure we require. We then have to decide whether we want to pay for it, if we can afford to pay for it, we have to look after those who [have] limited resources and therefore cannot handle extra bills easily.”

 

Water bills in England and Wales rose in April by the most in almost two decades, putting further pressure on budgets already strained by the soaring cost of energy and food. The typical water bill increased to an average of £448 a year from April, an increase of 7.5%.

 

They also warned that some consumers could pay significantly more than the average because of regional variations and individual factors, such as whether they have a meter and how much water they use.