Water bills: how much are they increasing by?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2013/feb/05/water-bills-how-much-increasing-by

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The average household water bills in England and Wales will increase by 3.5% according to the regulator Ofwat.

The forecasted rise will bring an average bill up to £388 in 2013/14. Mark King writes today:

A leading debt charity said the increase was "very bad news for consumers" and criticised Ofwat's decision to allow bills to rise by more than the rate of inflation.

Customers of Thames Water face the biggest percentage rise in water and sewerage bills, with an increase of 5.5% pushing the average bill up to £354.

So how do the increases break down by company? Thames Water have the biggest rise in water and sewage bills (5.5%), followed by Southern Water (5.3%) and Wessex Water (4.9%).

Due to a £50 subsidy from the government (designed to address the region's disproportionally high bills), South West Water customers' bill will decrease by £40 (down by 7.3%). Despite this, water and sewerage bills for South West Water customers' are still the highest at an average of £499. Without the government contribution, the combined average bill would be increasing by 2% to an average bill of £549 according to Ofwat.

April's rises are based on a rate of inflation of 3%. Regina Finn, Ofwat Chief Executive Officer said: "Back in 2009, companies wanted bills rises of 10 per cent above inflation. That didn't chime with what customers told us they wanted, so we said they could only increase bills in-line with inflation. "

The 3.5% rise has come at a time when water companies have recorded healthy profits. Mark King reports:

In 2011-12 Southern Water made £80m profit, with its chief executive Matthew Wright receiving total pay worth £632,000. Similarly, in 2011-12 Thames Water made a profit of £247.2m, with chief executive Martin Baggs taking home total pay worth £896,000.

The tables below show Ofwat's forecast of average household bills for 2013/14. There first table shows prices and percent changes for water and sewerage companies and the second shows prices for water only companies. The spreadsheet containing these tables is available for download. What can you do with this data?

Data summary

Forecast average household bills for 2013/14 (including 3% inflation) - Water & sewerage companies

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Source: Ofwat Notes: * Household customers served by South West Water will benefit from a Government Contribution, which will reduce the bill for all households by £50 per year. This is being applied from April 2013. • The change for Northumbrian - Essex and Suffolk is for water only bills, as they only provide water services.

Forecast average household bills for 2013/14 (including 3% inflation) - Water only companies

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Source: Ofwat Notes: In 2012 the three separate Veolia- branded businesses (Veolia Water Central, Veolia Water Southeast and Veolia Water East) were brought together as one company, under the Affinity Water brand. The above table reflects the fact there are three different sets of charges for the three different supply areas.

Download the data

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

• SOURCE: Ofwat

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