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Water Strategy

I congratulate the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) on securing this debate—there probably is no subject of greater interest to constituents in the south-west—and particularly on the way in which he discussed the long-term solutions and opportunities available at this critical point for dealing with an intractable problem. I welcome the line that the Minister has taken since taking up his post and, in particular, the very thorough and good report, ““Future Water””. I agree with the hon. Gentleman on its quality. The debate has been given momentum, perhaps not by our problems in the south-west, but by the need to consider metering—perhaps mandatory metering—and specific charging tariffs, to which the hon. Gentleman referred, which can provide fairer bills generally and go a long way to protecting vulnerable customers. The move to metering and smart metering—the latter also needs to be on the agenda—is being given momentum by companies facing drought measures. Compulsory metering is being applied to water companies in the south-east owing to water scarcity, and some water companies will be following a full metering programme. In water company areas other than the south-west, where water scarcity has been a problem for a very long time, that will create issues of affordability, particularly for householders in low rateable value properties. They pay proportionately less for their water now, but will find that their bills increase under metering, although on nothing like the scale faced in the south-west, where bills are £100 more than the average. The hon. Gentleman mentioned that they can be in the region of £500 or £600, but recently I have seen bills for £700 and 800, which are not uncommon in low-income households. I would therefore welcome any action that can be taken. I shall discuss the metering and charging review and set out three issues that I would like the Minister to take in, or at least focus on. He has set out five goals—for the sake of time, I shall not repeat them all, because I know that other hon. Members want to speak. The first goal is to assess the effectiveness and fairness of charging methods, which is essential, given current trends in water metering and for the reasons set out by the hon. Gentleman. As set out in the second goal, following trials, we must also consider the effectiveness of different types of social and block tariffs, paying particular attention to how they can affect vulnerable households. The remaining goals relate to pace of change, universal metering—we have heard how two thirds of people in the south-west are already on meters—and the cost of metering, including smart metering. Our metering policy must also take into account the social cost of carbon emissions, because climate change is, of course, a big issue, and any policy that takes account of it is a winner. We also need to look closely at the cost of different options. On the introduction of any such policy nationwide, the Minister must recognise that, through South West Water, twice as many customers in our region have meters already; otherwise we will yet again be on the losing side. The review will consider whether legislation is needed for charging or metering. The present list focuses on tariff types and metering, but it ignores the benefits of improving water efficiency inside the home, which Eaga did so much to explore in the south-west's affordability pilot. The pilot showed that one can reduce the amount of water used in the home by an average of 11 per cent., as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report on it sets out. The saving can make a difference to the bills that vulnerable households receive, and to the water company through reduced energy costs and less stress on water resources. Put another way, if the pilot measures were adopted throughout all homes in London, a further 200,000 homes could be built without any more demand on the water and sewerage resources—another win-win situation.