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The average increase, which will vary from company to company, is 1.5% plus inflation at 4.3%. This means that the average household water and sewerage bill will rise by around £18 to £330 a year. Ofwat Chief Executive Regina Finn said: "Each year we challenge the monopoly water companies to make sure their customer charges are in line with the price limits we have set and are fair. When we are satisfied that they are, we approve their bill changes. "The work that Ofwat has done to keep prices down, including setting companies tough efficiency challenges, has kept customers' bills around £100 lower than they would otherwise have been. "Clearly any bill increases are going to be unwelcome, but these price rises are essential to enable companies to continue to provide high-quality, secure water and sewerage services both now and for future generations. The increases also go towards significant improvements to protect the environment." To help customers understand each company's bills changes and why their bills have gone up, Ofwat has produced individual company information sheets, called 'About your bills'. These are available on its website, www.ofwat.gov.uk. Ms Finn added: "With household bills generally going up – including increases in energy and council tax – we are aware that bill increases are difficult for some customers. Some customers, particularly those who are low users of water, would save money if they had a water meter installed. Fitting a meter is free of charge and people can find out from their water company whether they would benefit. "We also want to see companies introducing innovative tariffs that give customers more choice and control over their bills, and we are currently consulting on how best to do this. The information we gather through our consultation will help us make decisions on charges and will also feed into the recently announced independent review of metering and water charging issues announced by the Government." Notes to Editors: 1. The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) is the economic regulator of water and sewerage companies in England and Wales. It exercises its powers in a way that it judges will protect the interests of consumers, promote value and safeguard future water and sewerage services by allowing efficient companies to carry out their functions properly, and finance them. Its duties include protecting the interests of consumers, wherever appropriate by promoting effective competition. 2. The actual increase in bills includes inflation of 4.28% (November 2007 RPI). 3. The consultation paper, 'Ofwat's future strategy for customer charges for water and sewerage services – A consultation' is available on the Ofwat website, www.ofwat.gov.uk 4. In 2006-07, more than 16,200 households received assistance under the WaterSure scheme, formerly known as the Vulnerable Groups scheme – 23% more than the previous year. Ofwat is working with Defra, CCWater and the industry to improve customer awareness of the scheme. 5. Ofwat will publish its annual 'Water and sewerage bills 2008-09' leaflet, which gives examples of annual metered and unmetered bills for each water and sewerage company, on its website at the end of February. 6. Media enquiries to Ofwat Press Office on: 0121 625 1496/1442/1416. Out-of-hours enquiries on 0121 625 1300. 7. Attached table – Average household bills for 2008-09 – shows the average across all customers for each company. Average household bills for 2008-09
Notes: 1. The average bills for Dŵr Cymru reflect the rebate of £21 in 2008-09 given to customers who take both their water and sewerage services from the company. 2. The % change for Essex and Suffolk is for water only bills. N.B. The totals may not equal the sum of water and sewerage services due to rounding  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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