Water minister dodges social tariff and wet wipe commitments

Water minister Rebecca Pow was unable to offer clarity on single social tariffs and refused to commit to plans for banning wet wipes at a House of Lords inquiry.

The water minister said standardising support for financially vulnerable households to pay water bills may include guidance on universal eligibility criteria across water companies.

Pow appeared before the House of Lords Industry and Regulators committee, which had issued a recommendation to roll out a single social tariff in time for 2025.

Pow reiterated the preference for the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) was for standardisation of approaches rather than a single approach.

However, she appeared to stumble when asked the difference between standardised tariffs and a single tariff, which the Committee had recommended the introduction of as a priority.

“We are always mindful of the vulnerable customers, which is why there are schemes across all water companies to help those who have trouble paying their bills and a whole range of measures that come into play to help them,” she said.

Pow also pointed to the WaterSure scheme that 1.3 million people have received help through.

“Government has said we will explore options for improving the systems that already existing throughout the water companies,” Pow added.

The water minister insisted it was a priority of Defra to protect vulnerable customers and said the department had been proactive and would be giving guidance to water companies on what is expected of them. She said companies must make consumers aware of help available and acknowledged this varied company to company.

At present, support is reliant on the willingness of other customers to pay more. In areas with higher levels of poverty, the ability for other consumers to pay into a support scheme may be more limited so levels of support are not consistent across England and Wales. CCW called for an end to the postcode lottery with a single social tariff, which was backed by peers but ultimately rejected by environment secretary Therese Coffey.

As part of Utility Week’s Action on Bills campaign, head of CCW Emma Clancy said the sector was in limbo awaiting clarity from Defra on developing support tariffs while the clock ran down towards the October deadline for business plans.

Another recommendation made by the Lords report that Defra has yet to take up is to ban wet wipes.

Lord Clement Jones said water companies “need help” from government to tackle wet wipes.

“Wet wipes fatbergs are putting enormous costs on water companies, which you could deal with within months if you had the will and focus to do it. So why is there just another consultation?” he asked.

Pow answered: “I certainly have the will – I have never been a woman who uses wet wipes.”

She said Defra was working on “rapidly” bringing forward its consultation to ban wet wipes, in particular those that contain microplastics.

“There are businesses not so happy with the idea of banning wet wipes,” Pow added and called for a need for public education.

She said the department was “endeavouring to ban all wet wipes containing plastic as soon as possible”.