Water bills to rise by £10 a month in April - with public 'paying price' of 'decades of neglect' as UK rivers 'sewage-choked'

Households in England and Wales will pay £10 more on average on their monthly water bills from April, final figures show. The rise will see the average annual bill hit £603, but there are significant variations between regions.

Water companies have committed extra money for investment in infrastructure, such as reservoirs, and more help for struggling customers. The increase will see the average monthly bill rise from £40 to £50, but millions of households face even steeper rises.

Southern Water customers told they will see a 47% increase to £703 a year while Hafren Dyfrdwy and South West Water bills are rising by 32%. Thames Water customers have been warned they will see a 31% hike and Yorkshire Water is raising bills by 29%.

Bournemouth Water customers will also see a 32% increase to their bills. Other factors, such as whether a customer is metered and how much water they use, means the bill changes will vary considerably for customers depending on their circumstances.

Water companies say they will also set aside more than £4bn to fund social tariffs - discounted bills for vulnerable people - over the next five years. But the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), which represents billpayers, said support did not go far enough, as about 2.5 million households were already in debt to their water company.

"These rises will heap considerable pressure on millions of customers who are already having to make difficult choices," said its chief executive Mike Keil. CEO of River Action James Wallace said that the public are now “paying the price for their decades of neglect”.

He said: “Water UK is gaslighting the public but we see through their dirty brown veil of deception and corporate defecation on bill payers and nature. We’re being told to celebrate the ‘record investment’ of water companies, but in reality, it is the public that will pay the price for their decades of neglect. Instead of fixing crumbling infrastructure, water companies have saddled themselves with billions in junk debt, leaving us with sewage-choked rivers, and paying extortionate interest rates through bill hikes.

“Communities and customers won’t be fooled by this web of lies. It’s time for broken utilities like Thames Water to be put into Special Administration and refinanced to operate for public benefit not investor return. Meanwhile, the Water Commission must end the failed privatisation experiment and reform the broken regulators to ensure a sustainable and resilient water and sewage system for future generations. Rivers do not need economic growth, they enable it.”