Water bill is 57% higher

mrsyardbroom

My water bill has increased by 57% this year and South West Water say there's nothing they can do about it. The government have stopped the GC50 support which was given to customers, and it was worth £50 a year. I'm unable to have a water meter fitted and so I have to be assessed according to the rateable value of my house. It's a little one bedroom cottage and I'm a single pensioner. There doesn't seem to be anything I can do about it, but 57% increase seems exceptionally high.

brook_heather

South West Water offer a one person assessed charge for water - are you on this tarriff - it is not based on RV:
https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/documents/charges/household-charges/202425/sww-household-charges-scheme-2024-25-inc-trials.pdf

mrsyardbroom

Thank you. I'll try and find out. There is a household charges document for 2025-26, and all the charges are considerably higher.

haze23

Don't doubt that such an increase is an unwelcome shock. Whilst having no sympathy with the way water companies have been operating, tbf this one doesn't seem to be entirely on them. It's not clear what their increase actually is, however, in reality your bill has been higher than you've been charged (as some of the cost was covered), so naturally this looks like a much more significant hike (and to you personally it is). The removal of government support though is not the fault of SWW. Can't offer any advice around financial options but only suggest revisiting the possibility of a water meter with SWW, what's the real issue with them not installing? It's worth considering whether being metered will actually be cheaper for you first though.

mrsyardbroom

brook_heather said:

South West Water offer a one person assessed charge for water - are you on this tarriff - it is not based on RV:
https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/siteassets/documents/charges/household-charges/202425/sww-household-charges-scheme-2024-25-inc-trials.pdf

Yes, I'm on this tarriff. I can be assessed for a water meter again. I don't know how big they are but they said they couldn't fit one last time.

mrsyardbroom

It seems everyone in my area has had similar increases in their water bills. Apparently the CEO has had a 58% pay rise and they have to pay for it somehow.

Chickenmad

My SWW bill also up by almost 60%. I tried to get a water meter fitted a couple of years ago but they messed up the engineer's appointment so I guess I'll have to try again. These increases do appear to be much larger than was forecast. I'm not sure how they expect OAPs surviving on a state pension are supposed to cope.