Yorkshire Water bills to fall under Ofwat ruling

Nov 27 2009 by Henryk Zientek, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

YORKSHIRE Water customers are set to benefit from lower water bills after a ruling by the industry watchdog.

Water and sewerage bills will fall by an average of £4 a year in 2010 and 2011 and rise by just £1 by 2015 under a pricing regime determined by regulator Ofwat. – even though the company wanted higher bills.

This will take the average bill from £331 to £332 over the period.

Yorkshire Water will also be allowed to invest £1.9bn in its network to improve the sewer system, tackle flooding, ensure water quality and improve the regions beaches.

Ofwat said it had listened to Yorkshire Water customers’ calls for “safe reliable water supplies at a reasonable cost”.

Ofwat chief executive Regina Finn said: “We’ve challenged the company and kept bills £20 lower than they asked for. This is not just about keeping bills down, but about what customers get for their money.”

Ofwat said Yorkshire Water would be allowed to invest £74m over the next five years to tackle problems of sewer flooding and the risk of water supplies being interrupted in severe circumstances.

In total, the company would be able to invest £1.9bn over the next five years – including £115m in sewer services to reduce pollution incidents, tackle smells from sewage works and improve the quality of coastal bathing water.

Yorkshire Water would also be able to replace or reline more than 470km of water mains and renew or renovate 120km of sewers.

And £30m would be spent to install 163,000 water meters for customers who opt for one – helping them control their bills by reducing water wastage.

In its draft proposals submitted to Ofwat in April, Yorkshire Water had called for the average bill to be increased by £4 a year during the five years to 2015.

Responding to the Ofwat decision, Yorkshire Water chief executive Kevin Whiteman said: “We will be carefully considering the detail over the coming weeks.

“However, our investment plans were built around delivering what customers told us they wanted from us and we welcome the confirmation from Ofwat on the additional investment in sewer flooding and bathing water quality in particular.