MSE News: Water bills to fall by average of 5% over next five years 12 December 2014 at 12:12PM in Water bills 8 replies 2.4K views

Former_MSE_Paloma

"Water regulator Ofwat's today told suppliers to cut water bills by an average of 5% between 2015 and 2020 ..."

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Water bills to fall by average of 5% over next five years




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Cardew

On a week when the stock market has taken a hammering(down by over 100 so far today) the shares in my water company(Severn Trent) have risen 1.4% - no doubt from relief that Ofwat have been so kind and gentle with the future pricing structure.

Andy_WSM

The headline is somewhat (very!) misleading too.

Water bills to fall...

No!

"Water bills for England and Wales will fall by an average of 5% - not including inflation - by 2020, the regulator Ofwat rules."

As inflation WILL be more than 5% (likely MUCH more) in the 5 years between 2015 & 2020, then bills will continue to rise!

Andy_WSM

At least my 2 providers - who are amongst, if not, the most expensive in the country have been told to really pull the strings in. Amongst the highest reductions in the country. Good!

Bristol water down 21%!
Wessex (Sewers) down 9%

[Deleted User]

My supplier (anglian) has to reduce bills by 10% excluding inflation at RPI rates by 5 years time.

Now RPI is higher inflation rate only used to increase prices to consumers while the lower rate of CPI is used by Government to prove how good they are at economics and to reduce the real value of any government pension or other benefit.

So RPI is 2.3% currently so my water bill will rise at that rate this year. This rate will probably go no lower over the next five years.

So for every £100 of my current bill

in 2016 = £102.30
in 2017 = £104.65
in 2018 = £107.06
in 2019 = £109.52
in 2020 = £112.04

Now take off the 10% of £100 from this year (2014) = £10

and 2020 is now £102.04

This is assuming inflation is static at 2.3% (unlikely) and no new government initiatives are launched after the election.

I have a feeling that this is just an election bribe and this policy will vanish after May 2015. The water companies and government will make something up like interest rate rises or flood defences or new water sources need to be paid for and this policy will be replaced.

Patr100

So annoyed at the way this has been reported .

Today's decision means the average water and wastewater bill in England and Wales will fall by around £20, from £396 to £376 (before inflation) by 2020

Very misleading to imply it is a cut in headlines ie people will pay less, if not factoring inflation in. It is a reduced increase perhaps but bills will not fall for most.

Pincher

Before the water meter, the price was shooting up at roughly £50 a year. £750 a year forced me to get the meter.
It's been more than a year now, and two people is less than £200 a year. In fact, I think we are still using up the surplus from the account from before. They are taking about £2 a month using the direct debit, probably the minimum amount.


5% on £750 would be nice, 5%on £200 is barely raising a smile.
5% OVER FIVE YEARs? So that's 1% a year? Now that's a joke that could make me laugh.

Andy_WSM

I see Bristol Water have been busted for a second time trying to lift money from our wallets.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-30445294

They wanted to increase all their customers bills by £7 a year to pay for a new reservoir, then go on to admit (having been told "no!") that "additional revenue could be gained from 50,000 homes planned for the area. If they are built this would offset the increase."

If the infrastructure has to be increased to cope with new homes, make the builders and the new home owners pay for it. I've more than paid my way - hence the staggering 21% decrease they've been told to impliment.

jimjames

Patr100 wrote: »

So annoyed at the way this has been reported .



Very misleading to imply it is a cut in headlines ie people will pay less, if not factoring inflation in. It is a reduced increase perhaps but bills will not fall for most.

Problem is that no-one knows what inflation will be so this is the most logical way of showing what will happen to bills. It's nothing new, every price review has been done in the same way but normally it has been a plus RPI figure so bills rise above inflation.