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Water and Sewerage (South-west)

Wherever, this is still an opportunity to raise a vital issue that affects my constituents in Torbay and many other people across the far south-west, and it has done so for more than 20 years. The high water bills facing South West Water customers have been in place since privatisation and stem from the iniquitous requirement for 3 per cent. of the population to pay for the clean sweep programme for 33 per cent. of the UK's coastline. The average bill for South West Water customers is £490, a staggering £723 for unmetered customers. The next highest average bill is Wessex Water at £412 and the national average is £343. Ofwat has only recently, since the publication of the interim Anna Walker report, paid some attention to that disparity in water and sewerage charges. South West Water customers with water meters can look forward to a £6 fall in prices by 2015. That is not much, but it is a move in the right direction. Ofwat's action will also be of little help to unmetered customers, whose bills are set to rise by 29 per cent., taking their average up to £935 a year. While many more will move to metered billing, a number will remain who cannot have meters installed, the majority of whom live in blocks of flats. Their bills will increase exponentially, plunging thousands into water poverty. The £6 reduction itself will be little consolation to many of my constituents on low incomes who are struggling to pay the historically high bills. The south-west has some of the lowest incomes in the UK coupled with some of the highest housing costs. The Walker review of charging for household water and sewerage services is long overdue. It has now published its final report and, rightly, there is an entire section dedicated to the unique problems faced by consumers in the south-west. Chapter 14 begins by reinforcing the underlying inequalities facing the region: the high proportion of pensioners; the large rural area to be covered; the lower disposable incomes and—importantly in terms of water costs—the domination of tourism in the local economy. A great attraction in the south-west is its coastline; an estimated 18 million people visit the region every year, and research shows that at least 7 million of those visit specifically to go to the seaside. There is, therefore, an important challenge to keep the coastline clean. More crucially, in terms of water bills, the Walker report recognises the low asset base that South West Water started with at the time of privatisation. That has improved now that the clean sweep programme has been implemented. The company has the highest capital expenditure by far—over 150 per cent. of the average of the water companies.