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PN 02/11 Water and sewerage bills rise in line with inflation in 2011/12
25 February 2011
Average bill of £356 across England and Wales
More than £22 billion investment programme over five years
The average household water and sewerage bill across England and Wales will increase broadly in line with inflation in 2011/12.
The average bill is set to rise by 4.6 per cent or about £16 to £356. This takes into account a reduction in the average bill of 0.1 per cent before inflation of 4.7 per cent.1
In 2009 Ofwat made its decision on how much water and sewerage companies could charge customers between 2010 –15. The regulator's challenge of companies' proposed bill rises meant that across England and Wales average bills are set to remain broadly stable up until 2015. And around ten per cent lower than what companies asked for. This is before inflation is factored in. The rate of inflation is added to bills on a year-by-year basis.1
Regina Finn, Ofwat Chief Executive Officer said:
"People can shop around for the best deal on many things, but not water. Our job is to do this for them.
"No one wants to see bills increasing, particular in tough economic times. When we set limits on prices, we listened to customers and challenged companies hard. That's why average bills are set to remain broadly in line with inflation up until 2015, while companies are investing more than ever before, £22 billion. That's more than £935 for every property in England and Wales.
"This will deliver real benefits to consumers - from almost ten million people's water supplies being better protected from events such as flooding to cleaner rivers and beaches.
"If companies don't deliver for customers, we will take action. In the last five years, companies have had to pay out more than £500m, from their own pockets, following underperformance."
The bill changes for this year will come into effect on 1 April 2011 and apply until 31 March 2012. The impact of the new charges will vary for individual household customers depending on the company that supplies them and whether or not they have a water meter.
Investment between 2010 -15 will allow companies to ensure customers continue to see improvements and receive a safe, reliable supply of drinking water. Key benefits of the investment will include:
Safe, reliable supplies
- Improve 140 water treatment works and 550 sewage treatment works to maintain and improve the environment and drinking water quality
- Over 10,000km of water mains being improved or replaced – more than the equivalent of London to Cape Town
- More than £1billion will be spent on maintaining and improving drinking water quality
- Investment in cleaning the mains pipe supplies serving more than one million people to help reduce discoloured water.
Protecting customers
- Extreme events such as flooding can severely disrupt water supplies. Almost 10 million people will benefit from investment to guard against them being without water.
- Addressing sewer flooding problems for more than 6,300 properties.
Environment
- Maintain or improve more than 3,000km of rivers to meet EU environmental standards.
- Improve water quality in more than 55 wetlands and bathing waters.
- More than 100 schemes to work with farmers and landowners. This will help control pollution and reduce costs by better use of land, preventing pollution of drinking water sources requiring costly treatment
Saving water and using energy wisely
- By 2015, the water savings that companies will make by meeting water efficiency targets, reducing leakage, and increasing metering will amount to more than 100 billion litres per year. That is enough water to supply the cities of Liverpool, Bristol and Brighton for more than a year.
- Between 2010-15, companies are investing in renewable energy sources generating enough extra electricity to power around 90,000 homes. That’s more than enough electricity for all the homes in Portsmouth. This will both help reduce carbon emissions and keep water bills down.
Average household bills in 2011/12 (including 4.7% rate of inflation)a
| Company | Water | Sewerage | Total Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value £ | Change £ | Value £ | Change £ | Value £ | Change % | |
Water & sewerage companies | ||||||
| Anglian | 177 | 9 | 221 | 6 | 16 | 4.1 |
| Dŵr Cymru | 171 | 5 | 240 | 6 | 11 | 2.7 |
| Northumbrian | ||||||
| Northumbrian (excluding Essex & Suffolk) | 153 | 11 | 183 | 13 | 24 | 7.8 |
| Essex & Suffolk b | 204 | 17 | 17 | 9.1 | ||
| Severn Trent | 164 | 5 | 147 | 7 | 13 | 4.3 |
| South West | 217 | 11 | 300 | 14 | 25 | 5.1 |
| Southern | 142 | 11 | 255 | 13 | 24 | 6.4 |
| Thames | 196 | 4 | 123 | 8 | 13 | 4.1 |
| United Utilities | 182 | 9 | 194 | 5 | 14 | 3.9 |
| Wessex | 218 | 15 | 210 | 4 | 19 | 4.6 |
| Yorkshire | 157 | 6 | 182 | 5 | 11 | 3.4 |
Water only companies | Change (water only) | |||||
| Bristol | 167 | 13 | 13 | 8.2 | ||
| Cambridge | 118 | 4 | 4 | 3.6 | ||
| Cholderton | 197 | 5 | 5 | 2.8 | ||
| Dee Valley | 137 | 7 | 7 | 5.3 | ||
| Portsmouth | 91 | 2 | 2 | 2.5 | ||
| Sembcorp Bournemouth (formerly Bournemouth & West Hampshire) c | 147 | 8 | 8 | 6.0 | ||
| South East | 193 | 14 | 14 | 7.8 | ||
| South Staffordshire | 130 | 6 | 6 | 4.6 | ||
| Sutton & East Surrey | 174 | 9 | 9 | 5.2 | ||
| Veolia Central (formerly Three Valleys) d | 169 | 9 | 9 | 5.9 | ||
| Veolia East (formerly Tendring Hundred) d | 169 | 6 | 6 | 3.5 | ||
| Veolia Southeast (formerly Folkestone & Dover) d | 190 | 6 | 6 | 3.1 | ||
| Total change (combined bill) | ||||||
| Industry average (weighted) | 174 | 8 | 182 | 8 | 16 | 4.6 |
a) Average bills for 2011-12 are estimates. They are based on provisional and forecast data that each company provides, for the year ending 31 March. Different companies may provide a customers' water and sewerage services. To calculate the combined bill, you must add the average water bill to the average sewerage bill.
b) The % change for Essex and Suffolk is for water only bills, as they only provide water services.
c) In January 2011, Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water announced that they have changed their name to Sembcorp Bournemouth Water
d) The three companies noted announced that on 1 July 2009 they changed their names to reflect their position as Veolia group companies. Veolia Water East was formerly known as Tendring Hundred, Veolia Water Central as Three Valleys and Veolia Water Southeast as Folkestone and Dover.
Please note: some % figures may not add up due to rounding
-ends-
Notes to Editors
- The rate of inflation is taken from the Retail Price Index (RPI) from the previous November. RPI in November 2010 was 4.7%. Ofwat's decision on price limits, which were set in 2009, means that across England and Wales average bills are due to decrease by 0.1%. Once inflation of 4.7% is factored in, this results in a total average bill increase of 4.6%.
- 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.
- The average household bill is, by definition, an average across all customers. Individual customers' bills may be more or less than the average because of their particular characteristics, for example, whether they have a water meter. Changes to customers' bills will vary according to which company supplies them. Some customers receive their water services from one company and receive their sewerage services from another.
- Bill changes have been rounded to the nearest whole £ (for example, an increase of £3.82, will be written as an increase of £4). Some percentage totals may therefore not add up due to rounding.
- Further information about bills for 2011/12 is available on http://www.ofwat.gov.uk/
- Media enquiries to Ofwat Press Office on:
Benedict Fisher on 0121 644 7642 / benedict.fisher@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk
or Harbinder Babra 0121 644 7616 / harbinder.babra@ofwat.gsi.gov.uk
