Water bills will surge by an average of £31 per year over the next five years from April – a hike slammed by campaigners as “daylight robbery” and “obscene”.
Households in England and Wales will see the average yearly charge soar by 36% under increases approved today by industry regulator Ofwat.
The figure is higher than the 21% the watchdog had proposed in July – but slightly lower than the water companies’ proposal of 40%.
The watchdog hopes the cash injection will fund investment to fix pollution and water shortages.
But campaigners and politicians are outraged; the increase comes after years of sewage spills and a failure to properly upgrade UK infrastructure. By 2030 an average annual bill will be £588.
Charles Watson – founder of the River Action anti-sewage group – described the hike as a “travesty”.
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“Shareholders in the water companies must be laughing all the way to the bank,” he added.
“With customers now being forced to foot the bill to repair and upgrade the water industry’s crumbling infrastructure, the very people who have already benefited for years from huge dividend payments, will see the value of their assets increase in thanks to this customer funded investment.”
Water firms actually asked for even more from the regulator. Southern Water asked to be allowed to increase bills by 84%, while debt-ridden Thames Water wanted Ofwat to approve a 53% hike.
Earlier this week, the ailing giant received court approval for an emergency £3bn lifeline from its creditors.
Today’s bill increases are “utterly disgraceful,” said Matthew Topham, lead campaigner at We Own It.
“Why should Brits have to cut back on food and other essentials, as many fear these hikes will require, to pay a privatisation tax to wealthy overseas shareholders?”
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In November, a Consumer Council for Water (CCW) poll found that 18% of consumers are already struggling with bills, and a further 40% said they would struggle to afford rises of 20% – less than what the regulator has approved.
Of those who said they would struggle, more than a third (38%) said they would cut back on food shopping and other essentials to pay for it.
Meanwhile, shareholders and executives have continued to benefit. Thames Water, for example, gave executive bosses £770,000 in bonuses in 2023-24
Surfers Against Sewage CEO Giles Bristow decried the profit-driven nature of the system.
“The obscene reality is that a third of every pound a customer pays is lost to industry debt and dividends, and not to cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas,” he said.
“We’re under no illusions that the water system needs urgent investment but Ofwat doing the same thing and expecting different results is sheer insanity.
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“Those who claim today as a day of great ambition and record investment are either blind or wilfully ignorant. Today is a day where the status quo continues and the vicious cycle of profit from pollution is perpetuated by government and its regulators.”
Water companies have said they need more money to tackle the sewage crisis. The UK’s 19th century plumbing infrastructure is not equipped to deal with a growing population, so the Environmental Agency allows water companies to release overflow after heavy rains – but they have been fined for regularly pumping sewage during dry spells, too.
Last week, Thames Water revealed 359 so-called ‘category one to three’ pollution incidents in the six months to 30 September, an increase of 40% on the same period the previous year.
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