Millions of households in England are to be hit with even higher water bill increases than previously thought, under plans being unveiled by the competition regulator this morning. However, the pain isn’t going to be as bad as the water companies had hoped.
The Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) has decided to approve about a fifth of spending increases proposed by water companies, on top of existing plans signed off by water regulator Ofwat, which will be funded by increases in bills.
And while it has “largely rejected” companies’ funding requests for new activities and projects, it is provisionally allowing 21% of the total £2.7bn requested by Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water, and Wessex Water.
This means they can seek an extra £556m in revenue, which is expected to mean an average increase of 3% on bills for customers of the five companies.
That is on top of the 24% increase in bills for customers of these companies under Ofwat’s original determination, which firms had complained was too stingy.
The CMA says this extra money will fund more resilient supply, reduce pollution and also reflect increased financing costs.
Today’s key events
• 7am BST: German trade balance
• 9.30am BST: UK economic activity and social change, indicators from the ONS
• 1.30pm BST: Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell speaks
We’ll be tracking all the main events throughout the day on our business live blog …
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