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Water bills in England and Wales are set to rise an average of £94 over the next five years under plans set by the regulator Ofwat.
The increase of around £19 a year comes after water providers had requested price rises to invest in fixing issues like sewage spills, leaky pipes and pollution.
The recommendations are about a third less than was asked for by water companies, many of which are facing criticism for failing to tackle issues such as sewage leaks and pollution.
Ofwat has said its plans will save customers £16 billion compared to what water companies had proposed.
Customers of Thames Water will see a 22 per cent increase in water bill costs over the next five years, half of the 44 per cent the provider had pushed for. The company faced financial difficulty in March after investors pulled out of emergency funding plans, and it was revealed the company had overseen a 105 per cent increase in raw sewage discharges.
The recommendations come as part of the water regulator’s draft review of water company spending, with a final version set to be published in December.
David Henderson, chief executive of Water UK, told the BBC that the lobby groups feels Ofwat “got this wrong.”
“This is an unrealistic and unfair decision from Ofwat and our economy and environment will pay the price”.
Despite being much lower than what was requested, news of the increase won’t come as welcome news to consumers who have seen household bills rise at record rates during the ongoing cost of living crisis.
Customers of two water companies – Dŵr Cymru and Southern Water – will see their average bills increase to over £600 a year by April 2029. Southern water also brings the largest overall increase, at £183 over five years.
Here’s the full list of water companies and how much they’re likely to be increasing bills by over the next five years:
The picture is slightly better for customers of the UK’s five water-only companies (without wastewater responsibilites) where the average bill increase is £12. These are:
- Affinity Water – up to £203 in 2029 (£11 increase)
- Portsmouth Water – up to £135 in 2029 (£21 increase)
- South East Water – up to £248 in 2029 (£18 increase)
- South Staffs Water – up to £183 in 2029 (£22 increase)
- SES Water – up to £187 in 2029 (£34 decrease)
