Water affordability bill to enable subsidy payments to South West customers gets first reading

A bill that would enable government subsidies to be paid to South West Water customers has had its first reading in the House of Commons today.

Government acknowledged that primary legislation would be required when it promised SWW account holders a £50 subsidy from the Treasury. That enabling legislation has now been set out in the Water Industry (Financial Assistance) Bill.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it could not estimate how long the bill would take to become law, but payments, which would initially be made by the Treasury, are due to begin in April 2013.

As well as enabling the SWW payments to go ahead, a second clause in the bill allows the government to underwrite certain water and sewerage infrastructure projects in England.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: “Households in the South West have for a number of years had the highest water bills in the country due to the cost of investing in infrastructure that was required following privatisation. We have made a commitment to enable South West Water to cut bills by £50 per year for all household customers. Hopefully people will feel that it goes some way to righting this historic wrong.”