In more worrying news about the cost of living in the UK, water companies are looking to increase bills by approximately £156 a year by 2030 to improve their services.
But not everyone is happy with the idea of having to pay more for cleaner water, especially after major backlash about sewage spills across the country.
Here’s what you need to know.
Why do water companies want to increase bills?
Water firms want the average annual bill to go up by £84 in 2025 before increasing to around £156 extra by 2030, although the exact amount will vary across providers.
Annual bills at the moment are already £448 on average, but expected to rise from April 2025.
This extra money would supposedly almost double current infrastructure spending, taking it from £51 billion between 2020 and 2025 to £96 billion between 2025 to 2030.
It would also allow firms to build 10 new reservoirs and up to nine desalination plants.
New cross-country pipes will be installed to carry water from the wetter north to the south, too, according to the water companies, and help to create more than 30,000 new jobs and 4,000 apprenticeships.
It said this money could also reduce sewage leaks by a quarter by 2030 (when compared to 2020) and it will invest £11 billion to reduce overflow spills.
It claims this would work out to 140,000 fewer sewage spills each year by 2030.
Allegedly there will be new nature-based schemes to manage rainwater and technology, too.
According to The Times, chairwoman of Water UK and former Labour MP Ruth Kelly said: “Bill rises are never welcome, but in keeping bills low, the environment and the security of our water supply has been paying the price. Those issues now need to be confronted head on.”
Industry body Water UK described these changes as the “most ambitious modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era.”
Water UK also claimed that the proposals will also make 3.2 million households eligible for support for bills because of the cost of living crisis – that’s more than double the current number receiving support.
Why have water companies faced so much backlash?
Water firms poured sewage into rivers and seas more than 300,000 times in 2022, sparking outrage and even some legal action.
And, only last week, regulator Ofwat (The Water Services Regulation Authority) called on water companies in England and Wales to pay back £114 million to customers by offering lower bills, because it had been “too slow” to deliver on key targets on leaks, supply and pollution cutbacks.
If water firms don’t meet the targets the watchdog sets for them, Ofwat will restrict the money they can take.
Only five of those reviewed will get to keep the money customers have given to them, the rest will have to reduce client bills in 2024-25.
During Ofwat’s review of the water companies, not a single one of the country’s water companies was put in the “leading” category.
However, chief executive of Water UK, David Henderson, has defended the industry.
He said: ”Since privatisation, £200 billion has been invested, almost double the rate before privatisation. Drinking water is what was funded from that money to be now at the highest standard in the world.
“Leakage [is] down by a third. There’s two thirds less ammonia and phosphorus entering our rivers. The number of beaches classed as excellent is up sevenfold. And on top of that bills have been kept low. Since 2010, water bills on average have fallen by nearly a fifth.
“So it is not true to say we haven’t been investing, we have been investing and this is now the next great challenge.”
Why is not everyone happy with the proposed water bill rises?
Clean water campaigner Feargal Sharkey told BBC Breakfast that raising bills was a “breathtakingly dangerous thing for the industry to be doing” and “almost a collective act of industrial self harm.”
He said that the Ofwat had already confirmed that customers have paid the companies to develop, build and maintain an effective sewage system, so shouldn’t have to pay more money for further improvements.
Sheila Adam, from the Clean River Kent Campaign, also told The Guardian: ”Ofwat regulates the water industry on behalf of the public, and it should protect the public not the polluters.
“Unfortunately, it seems that the detail of United Utilities business plans will never be fully available to the taxpayer to review.
“So, we can only call on Ofwat to do its duty and critically examine the water company’s business plans to ensure that they will protect our rivers and seas, from pollution into the future.”
What happens next?
Ofwat has 12 months to look into the proposals and decided if the bill hikes should go ahead.
If the extra paymnts gets improved, water companies claim these “record-breaking investment proposals” will look after the country’s water supply in the long-term.
But, the environment secretary Therese Coffey said the regulator should make sure customers don’t “pay the price for poor performance”, and that the regulator should use the “full powers” they have to protect clients.
She also called for water companies “to step up and deliver lasting changes for future generations.”