The average rise in bills for water and wastewater companies will be £19 per year over five years (£94 in total), excluding inflation, Ofwat announced.
However, this figure is an average across all water companies, and as such, different customers will see different prices depending on factors such as where you live, whether you move to a social tariff, or if you have a water meter and use more or less water.
As part of its 2024 price review covering 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2030, Ofwat has proposed the following for water and wastewater services:
Ofwat said water firms had proposed price increases averaging £144 over five years. However, its “interventions” have reduced this figure, including a fall from Thames Water’s proposed increase of £191 by 2030 to £99, while Severn Trent customers could have seen bills rise by £144, rather than the £93.
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‘Slap in the face for people on squeezed budgets’
Vix Leyton, consumer money expert at Hotukdeals.com, said: “The announcement by Ofwat regarding bill hikes until 2030 is a real slap in the face for people already on squeezed budgets.
“While it’s a relief that the increase is not as bad as it could have been – at a third less than what the water companies initially requested – it still means significant pressure on households struggling with a cost-of-living crisis. It is also a postcode lottery for how much you’re paying for an essential service, on the one resource that is vital and you can’t shop around for.
“Faith in water suppliers is at an all-time low, and for good reason – the quality of water is a disgrace, with literal raw sewage being dumped into our lakes and rivers, and now we are being charged more?”
People will ‘question the fairness’ of water bill rises
Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said: “Millions of people will feel upset and anxious at the prospect of these water bill rises and question the fairness of them given some water companies’ track record of failure and poor service.
“Customers understand investment is urgently needed, but they need reassurance that every pound of their money is going to be well spent. Trust in water companies has never been lower and that won’t change until people see and experience a difference – whether that’s having the confidence to swim at their favourite beach or receiving help if they are struggling to pay their bill.”
Keil added that CCW estimates there are around two million households in England and Wales that currently cannot afford their water bill. See YourMoney.com‘s guide on How to cut the cost of your water bill.
Ofwat on investment, delivery and supply of water
Ofwat said it has set out a record £88bn upgrade to deliver cleaner rivers and seas, and better services for customers.
This includes a £10bn investment to tackle storm overflows and to reduce spills from storm overflows by 44% from levels in 2021.
And £35bn of the expenditure – triple the level of investment in the 2020-25 period – reflects the investment needed to reduce pollution, improve customer service and river and bathing water quality, and “deliver greater resilience to the impact of climate change”.
It has also proposed a new initiative to ring fence investment funding with a “claw-back guarantee” that will ensure money not spent on investment is returned to customers.
The total expenditure proposed is £16bn lower than in companies’ business plans.
Meanwhile, companies will be required to replace around 8,000km of water mains pipes – a 400% increase compared with the current five-year period.
And, they’ll need to reduce water leakages by a further 13%.
‘Fair price for customers’
David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, said: “Customers want to see radical change in the way water companies care for the environment.
“Our draft decisions on company plans approve a tripling of investment to make sustained improvement to customer service and the environment at a fair price for customers.
“Today’s announcement also increases the resilience of our water supplies to the impact of climate change and will reduce how much water is taken from rivers by enabling a range of long-term water supply projects, which includes plans for nine reservoirs.
“Let me be very clear to water companies. We will be closely scrutinising the delivery of their plans and will hold them to account to deliver real improvements to the environment and for customers and on their investment programmes.”
