Household bill increases in 2008-09

This site uses the UK Government AccessKeys system	Protecting consumers, promoting value and safeguarding the future Skip Menus
	What's new \| Publications \| Media centre \| Price review \| FAQs Update alerts \| Consumer issues \| Site map \| Competition \| Contact us


Advanced Search \| Help

Consultation responses

Consumer issues

Sustainable development

Water resources

Ofwat home > Ofwat key work areas > Consumer issues

Charges and bills	Your rights and responsibilities	Your point of view	Having problems paying your bill
Useful contacts	Meters	Water resale	Your water company

Household bill increases in 2008-09

Water and sewerage bills change every year, and so may be higher from one year to the next. In April 2008, the average household water and sewerage bill in England and Wales will go up by £18 (which includes 4.28% inflation). Your own bill may go up by more or less than this amount.

How much your bill goes up will depend on which company supplies your water and sewerage services. It will also depend on whether you pay for your water based on the rateable value of your home (that is, you are 'unmetered'), or whether you have a meter and pay for the amount of water you use.

You can find more information on your company's charges for this year in our 'About your bill' leaflets.

Why are bills going up?

Bills are going up so that each water company can continue to deliver the high-quality services that customers need and expect, as well as safeguarding the environment. Between 2005 and 2010 bills will pay towards:

maintaining pipes, sewers and treatment works (including laying, renewing or relining more than 23,000 kilometres of water mains), so that essential services are protected for the future;
a major programme of environmental schemes to improve rivers and coastal waters;
connecting almost one million new properties to the water and sewerage networks; and
preventing or reducing internal flooding from overloaded sewers into homes that are currently at high risk of flooding.

How does Ofwat protect my interests?

Water is a monopoly business, which means that you cannot choose which company supplies your water and sewerage services. It is our role to protect consumers, promote value and safeguard the future. We do this in a number of different ways.

We make sure that your water and sewerage bill does not go up by any more than is necessary. We do this by limiting the amount water companies can charge you to meet your needs and those of the environment while delivering a safe and reliable service. We set price limits for each water company every five years. We last set price limits in 2004 for each year between 2005 and 2010.
We encourage companies to become more efficient; this benefits customers by lowering the companies' costs.
Every year, we approve each company's charges scheme and check that it is in keeping with our price limits. We check that companies' individual charges are fair and do not discriminate between different groups of customers (such as those people with or without meters, or water customers and sewerage customers of the same company).
We check that each company delivers the services and improvements they have said they will deliver and compare their performance to make sure they maintain high levels of service, including protecting the environment. This encourages all companies to achieve the best standards for customers.
The companies have conditions set that they must follow, and we enforce these. Where a company fails to provide a level of service that you expect, we can take action so that customers are not disadvantaged (this includes the power to fine companies).

Useful information
Frequently asked questions
'Price limits: what are they and how can they be changed?'
'Rateable values'
'Opting for a meter'
'Water charges and company profits: position paper'
'Your water and sewerage bill 2008-09'

Charges and bills

Household Charges

Water meter savings calculator

(Excel - 397Kb)

Household bill increases in 2008-09

Unmetered charges

Metered charges

Non-household Charges

Standard non-household water tariffs

Large user tariffs for water

Sewerage tariffs

Disclaimer & Privacy Statement