Water companies outline support available as cost of bills set to change
Utility companies have outlined the support available for customers struggling to pay their water bills ahead of changes to costs due to come into force later this year.
Last week, Southern
Water announced its average combined water supply and wastewater treatment services bill is set to fall by
1.3 per cent or £5 a year in 2022/23. The utility company said a typical combined bill per household is now expected to be £401.54 compared to an average charge of £406.91 for 2021/22.
Meanwhile Portsmouth Water will be increasing its bills by an average of 6.1 per cent effective from the start of July.
A typical annual household water bill will be £109 which it says will still be ‘considerably lower’ than any other water company.
Southern Water currently provides more than 126,000 customers with some form of financial assistance, an increase of 21,000 since the start of the pandemic. Last year it provided more than £12.5 million worth of support.
Support offered includes payment holidays, special tariffs, debt write-offs, bill reductions and grants for household items.
The company also offers support and extra care help for those living with long-term illness, disability, the elderly and even new parents or parents with young children.
Katy Taylor, chief customer officer at Southern Water, said: “If you’re finding it hard to pay your bills due to the surging costs of living or for any other reason, our message is: ‘Please get in touch with us as we can help’.”
Portsmouth Water CEO
Bob Taylor added: “We are very mindful of the current economic pressures on household incomes, especially for the more vulnerable members of our society. As a result, we will be continuing to offer strong support to our customers who are struggling to pay, asking them to contact us at the earliest opportunity so we can advise and help wherever we can.”
This support includes offering payment holidays, affordable instalment plans and other forms of tailored support. Portsmouth Water also has a ‘helping hand tariff ’ which caps charges for lowincome households. More than 9,000 customers have benefitted from this already.