Water bills fall but affordability remains concern for customers

Water bills for 2020/21 will fall for most customers but CCW’s latest survey has revealed affordability remains a concern for some and billpayers do not widely support paying extra to support those in financial trouble.

Figures from Water UK show the average household water bill will fall by £6 to £186 over 2020/21 and customers can expect to pay around £210 on average for sewerage.

Portsmouth’s customers will pay the least for water bills (£102) from this month, while Wessex has the highest water charges at £230 down £20 year-on-year.

Charges fell at 13 water companies, remained static at Cambridge and Welsh Water but rose at Yorkshire, Southern, South Staffs, Severn Trent and Hafren Dyfrdwy.

Sewerage charges will be around £12 lower than 2019/20, with Hafren Dyfrdwy offering the lowest charge (£138) and South West coming in at the top end at £311 – down by £19 over two years.

The sharpest falls for sewerage prices were from Southern, which fell by £52 to £232, and Northumbrian, which fell £60 to £166.

The only slight price rises will be Welsh Water (Dwy Cymru) with a £6 increase and Yorkshire where sewerage bills will rise by £11. Elsewhere, sewerage bills will remain flat for Wessex and Thames.

The average combined bill will amount to £1.09 per day for households.

CCW, the water watchdog warned against misleading the public on water bills when the final determinations were announced in December by Ofwat.

The group has released its latest WaterVoice report that surveyed people during lockdown and found 25 per cent of people were more worried about being able to pay their water bill because of the financial impacts of coronavirus.

There was mixed support for increasing water bills to help those who need financial help. Around 40 per cent supported a rise of £2-3, while 26 per cent were against it and the remainder were unsure or did not care.

The survey also revealed the majority of participants (87 per cent) were not aware that shielding and vulnerable householders could register for the priority services register.

Correlating with the rises in water consumption by up to a third in May, 83 per cent of householders reported washing their hands more often as a result of concern about coronavirus; 9 per cent were stocking up on bottled water and 51 per cent were cleaning their homes more.