How customers are charged 2008-09: Headlines

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How customers are charged 2008-09: Headlines

Price limits:
The average increase in prices for 2008-09 is 5.8%, which includes inflation of 4.3%.

Ten companies have agreed to increase their prices by less than the full amount available to them. (See price limits and average bills section for details).

Household bills:
Average bills for water services range from £90 for Portsmouth Water to £204 for South West Water, with an overall average of £157.

Average sewerage bills range from £115 for Thames Water to £293 for South West Water, with an overall average of £174.

Non-household charges:
If you are a non-household customer and you use less than 50 megalitres of water (or 250 Ml for companies operating wholly or mainly in Wales), then the price limits above also apply to your charges. If you use more than this amount of water, your bill increases will be broadly similar to the increases for household customers but the price limits do not apply.

New developments and significant changes

United Utilities has started the second phase of its transition to charge non-household customers for surface water drainage based on the site area of their property. If you were connected to the network before 1 April 2007, you will pay a charge partly based on the rateable value of the property and partly based on the site area for 2008-09.
Thames Water has restructured its domestic assessed charge, which now charges according to the number of bedrooms in your property.
Southern Water has rebalanced the charges between domestic sewerage and trade effluent, because trade effluent customers were being slightly undercharged.
This year we have approved six new tariffs for trial. Four of these will look at the effectiveness of new structures for household metered charges in influencing your water usage. Two others will offer incentives to help you pay your bills.

Our future strategy for customer charges
In January 2008, we published a consultation on our future strategy for customer charges for water and sewerage services. The consultation describes the charging issues facing the water industry and sets out our proposed strategy for future charges, as well as our updated charging principles. The consultation closed on 15 April 2008. We will publish our conclusions from the consultation this summer.

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