Water companies want to put bills up by an extra £156 a year

Water firms want to increase water bills by an extra £156 per year to fund an upgrade plan to prevent 140,000 sewage overflow spills each year.

The water companies have set out a five year plan and will invest £96 billion until 2030 and will also build 10 reservoirs to stop leaks.

Customers are to be asked to pay more to help with the upgrades and under their proposals bills will be on average around £7 higher a month by 2025 and by 2030 the bills will go up to £13 a month.

David Henderson, chief executive of Water UK said, “These record-breaking investment proposals will secure our water supply as we deal with a changing climate and a growing population.

“While increasing bills is never welcome, this investment in our country’s infrastructure is essential to ensure the security of our water supply.

“Water companies are seeking regulatory approval to reduce overflow spills into rivers and seas as fast as possible and to doubling the number of households receiving support to pay their bills.

“Ofwat now needs to back these plans that are both ambitious and vital.

“Approving the plans is necessary so that we can provide the highest quality drinking water for a growing population, ensure the security of our water supply in the future and reduce the use of storm overflows as much as possible.”

Gary Carter, GMB National Officer, said, “Consumers shouldn’t have to foot the bills when water companies have paid out billions in dividends, dumped millions of gallons of sewage in rivers and seas and failed to invest for decades.

“Water bosses are the ones responsible for the terrible state of England’s rivers and waterways ; they should be paying to restore them to good health, not the public.

“Ofwat and the Government must not allow water companies to hike bills. It’s an insult as sky high energy bills heap more financial pain on consumers.

“Water privatisation has failed –  consumers shouldn’t have to pay for this failure.”

Ofwat chief executive David Black said: “Company business plans are an important first step in the price review process.

“Ofwat’s role is to forensically scrutinise their proposals, to ensure any increase in bills is justified, efficient and delivers significant improvements in river and bathing water quality.

“We will assess how companies are helping customers to afford any bill increase.”