Millions of homes set for bigger jump in water bills in new cost of living blow

Millions of households are set to see bigger jumps in their water bills after five companies were given permission to raise prices by more than previously announced.

The five companies - Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water, and Wessex Water - had argued that the original increases set by water regulator Ofwat left them unable to meet regulatory requirements.

The firms launched an appeal in March, which triggered a six-month period for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to consider their appeals.

The CMA has today said Anglian and Northumbrian should be allowed to increase their bills by a further 1% than what was previously announced, Southern by 3%, South East by 4% and Wessex by 5%.

The CMA said its provisional decision would allow for 21%, or an additional £556million in revenue, of the total £2.7billion the five firms requested.

It comes after Ofwat said in December that water firms could raise bills by an average of £157 - or 36% - over the next five years to help pay for upgrades and reduce sewage discharges.

Kirstin Baker, who chaired the independent group of experts appointed by the CMA to consider the price controls, said: “We’ve found that water companies’ requests for significant bill increases, on top of those allowed by Ofwat, are largely unjustified.

“We understand the real pressure on household budgets and have worked to keep increases to a minimum, while still ensuring there is funding to deliver essential improvements at reasonable cost.”

Water minister Emma Hardy said: “I understand the public’s anger over bill rises – that’s why I expect every water company to offer proper support to anyone struggling to pay.

“We’ve made sure that investment cash goes into infrastructure upgrades, not bonuses, and we’re creating a tough new regulator to clean up our waterways and restore trust in the system.

“We are laser-focused on helping ease the cost of living pressure on households: we’ve frozen fuel duty, raised the minimum wage and pensions and brought down mortgage rates — putting more money in people’s pockets.”