Yorkshire launches tariff for customers in debt

Yorkshire Water has extended support for billpayers in arrears to help clear debts more quickly.

The company will match consumer contributions to paying off their debts, which Yorkshire said would be an average of £195 annually towards their bill.

The direct support tariff is designed to assist billpayers receiving benefits to pay arrears on their water bill. Yorkshire will continue paying contributions until the debts have been cleared to help people manage their bills.

Research by Citizens Advice and, separately, CCWater showed that around three million households struggle to pay water bills.

Eradicating water poverty by 2030 is one of five Public Interest Commitments pledged by the sector and coordinated by Water UK.

The company anticipates the scheme will help 10,000 billpayers in this financial year. More than 12,000 customers received a three-month break from their water bill to ease the financial pressures of Covid-19

Zoe Burns-Shore, director of customer experience, said the tariff will offer extra help to around 10,000 customers who will receive quarterly contributions from Yorkshire towards their bills and any arrears they may be in.

She said: “While this tariff is limited to a specific group of customers, we have a wide range of tariffs available that offer additional support to those who may be experiencing financial difficulties of struggling to cover their bills. We are keen to help customers where we can and by talking to us about problems with billing, we can work together to find a solution.”

Bills are set to fall throughout the current AMP7 cycle but not as steeply as Ofwat had wanted.

At the end of September the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) published its interim determination that said average bills for Yorkshire customers should be £379 annually between 2020-25, down from £383 in 2019/20. The regulator had set a larger bill cut to £364 during the five year period.