Almost 2m Yorkshire homes face £16 hike in water bills
NEARLY 2M households in Yorkshire will be paying £16 more for their water with bills in the region set to rise by the most in the country.
The 4.2 per cent increase from April means Yorkshire Water (YW) customers shelling out on average £401 for a combined water and sewerage bill.
However YW’s bills will still be the fourth cheapest in England and Wales and £14 under the national average. Cheapest is Hafren Dyfrdwy in Wales where customers spend an average of £312 and South West the most expensive at £491.
The Consumer Council for Water responded to the rises by calling on the industry to fund more financial assistance for low-income customers.
The watchdog said any increase would be unwelcome for struggling households faced with other rising living costs, and more could be done to help them.
Chief executive Tony Smith said: “Many customers will see their bills rise from April, largely due to inflation. Even just a small increase has the potential to hurt the three million households who tell us they struggle to afford their water bills.
“We’d like to see companies go further by dipping into their own pockets to help customers that are already feeling the pinch.”
More than half a million lowincome households receive subsidised water bills through customer-funded social tariffs.
But CCWater said the growth and impact of these schemes remains constrained by other customers’ willingness to fund them, with assistance currently reaching only about a quarter of those saying they need help.
In October, MPs called for tougher targets for cutting water leaks after figures showed a “shocking” 3bn litres are lost each day.
The House of Commons Environment Committee said industry targets to reduce leakage by 15 per cent by 2025 are “not ambitious enough”.
YW said it had “earmarked a multi-million investment to reduce its leakage rate next year, as it targets a substantial reduction in lost water.” It is also heavily investing to protect the environment, including river water quality and species biodiversity.