Water customers 'could switch suppliers,' Ofwat proposes

Former_MSE_Faye

The regulator says opening up the water market to rival companies could help households save money...

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'Water customers 'could switch suppliers,' Ofwat proposes'

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badmemory

Wow the savings have gone up from a massive £6 per year to an enormous £8 per year. The only people who think this is a good idea are the ones who think they are actually going to have a different supplier, when in actual fact the only thing that will change is that they will pay a different company. If anything goes wrong with their water they will have to contact their actual supplier not the money taker. And will the regulator Ofwat be any better than the gas & electric one? I doubt it. Just another phone call to answer to tell them to stop ringing to sell gas elect phone because that is what the actual aim is.

minislim

anythings a start!
i can never understand why as a United Utilities customer i pay one of the highest water rates in the country.

and yet UU has some of the best water stocks in the country. of which it sells a lot elsewhere to water firms who charge less rates?

they always report massive profits every year.

so instead of passing on saving to the customers they keep filling their pockets instead.

gavrc

I have a better idea. Instead of private companies with regional monopolies lets have one company, say a government department, that has a national monopoly. Then that £8 I'd save every year could be used to modernise the decrepit Victorian infrastructure we rely on instead of paying shareholders and fat cats.

gav

badmemory

Perhaps this "news" could be linked to the original thread by ofwat in August which stated what the actual aims are. Nothing to do with water at all. No-one is going to get rid of an expensive supplier. Any new supplier is still going to have to pay the original supplier.

Maybe MSE Faye should have included that.

debitcardmayhem

Perhaps I could switch from my supplier to one that gives me soft water, I would pay an extra 100 per year for that. Yet another idiot idea which will cost the consumer money in the long run.

Pincher

Time to start digging, and put in my own rain water recycling system.

When the water stops, there will be no one to fix anything.

They will all be call centre staff who are on Indian minimum wage,
who will snap into action by sending an e-mail to the "Engineering Department". The fault report number will be 30 digits long, to cope with the number of complaints.

The single qualified engineer, Geoff, will be tasked to handle ten million jobs. He will have enough budget to buy one spanner.

robin58

Wow a saving of £8 a year.

How about a rebate of the £800 million we all got overcharged due to the inadequacy of Ofwat?

NO, the water companies were allowed to keep it.

As I always say any consumer board with a 'O' at the beginning of its name always costs me more money.

Cardew

minislim wrote: »

anythings a start!
i can never understand why as a United Utilities customer i pay one of the highest water rates in the country.

and yet UU has some of the best water stocks in the country. of which it sells a lot elsewhere to water firms who charge less rates?

they always report massive profits every year.

so instead of passing on saving to the customers they keep filling their pockets instead.

Where do you get the information that UU have one of the highest water rates in UK?

A metered customer with UU for water and sewerage pays a £40pa fixed charge and £2.92 per cubic metre.

A metered customer with South West Water for water and sewerage pays a £87pa fixed charge and £4.98 per cubic metre.

If you pay for surface water drainage the differential is even higher.

The charges are not based on the amount of water stocks but the cost of treatment and distribution of water and the sewerage network and treatment.

The tasks and maximum revenue, and hence profit, that can be raise is laid down by the Regulator Ofwat.

That said the profits are massive and they are in a win/win situation - which is why their share price keeps increasing and foreign companies are keen to buy the companies.

Blame Maggie for privatising a monopoly!

jimjames

Completely ridiculous idea. If people don't change gas/electric supplier when they could save £300+ why would anyone bother for £8. The costs and disruption involved in setting up the market are massive and total waste of money if the savings are so small. Most don't seem to understand that as per gas/electric what is supplied doesn't change, it's just the billing that is from a different company.


It certainly won't change the relative prices of different areas of the country.