The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
BIG INVESTMENT FROM WATER COMPANY
Anglian Water have vowed to make major improvements to water supply in Peterborough and Cambridgeshire after announcing a £500 million investment - but customers will face a ‘slight’ rise in their bills.
The investment is part of a major scheme across the east of England costing £6.5 billion between 2020 and 2025.
The plans include £237 million to fit smart meters in March and Peterborough and significantly reduce leakage across the county, and £93 million to create new interconnecting pipes that can move water around the region wherever and whenever it is needed. Anglian Water also promised £650 million invested to enable sustainable growth, and allow for more than 200,000 new homes to be built in the region by 2025.
CEO of Anglian Water, Peter Simpson said: “This is the most ambitious plan we’ve put forward yet, with stretching goals that will see us push the frontier in many areas, like leakage, resilience and catchment management, and it’s the biggest investment we’ve ever proposed.”
Mr Simpson said challenging weather conditions - including the freezing ‘beast from the east’ and the summer heatwave - were posing more problems - but despite the big challenges, customers would only face a ‘slight’ bill increase.
He said: “Importantly, our plans will deliver this with only a very slight increase in bills- less than one per cent over the whole five years with average bills at the end of the period the same as at the start.
“However, we recognise that for some customers even this miniscule increase is a challenge, which is why we’re planning to help on average 475,000 customers every year with one of the most comprehensive support packages in the industry.”