Water UK

PR04 final business plans press digest

10/05/04

Friday, 7th May

Water companies keep pressing for higher charges
Andrew Taylor, Financial Times
Water companies continued to press ahead with proposals for big increases in household water bills from next April despite objections from Government.
Pamela Taylor, Water UK chief executive, defended the industry’s figures. She said these were ‘very robust’ and ‘we would be very surprised to see any major shift at all in any of the prices and costings’.

Water customers face torrent of price rises
Tessa Thorniley, Daily Telegraph
Steep rises in water bills are in the pipeline was water companies battle to comply with a raft of EU directives, tax changes and to carry out vital maintenance.
Water UK said: ‘The problem is that today time-expired assets can be working well, but tomorrow they can fail without warning and cause major disruption. Customers have a right to expect better in 21st century Britain’

H2O: time to step up bills.
City comment, Daily Telegraph
They should know all about water softening at Water UK, the industry’s trade body, and yesterday they were spouting away about how the staff of life is going to get much more expensive. It is not hard to see way. Privatisation was supposed to release enough capital to fix old mains and sewers, but much of the spending went instead on meeting European Union directives to clean up coastline (sensible) and to make drinking water even purer (as waste of money)

Water firms press ahead with large rises in bills
Angela Jameson, The Times
Pamela Taylor, the chief executive of Water UK, the water industry lobby group, said that the environmental improvements achieved in Britian’s beaches and rivers since privatisation of the water industry could be at risk if the investment in water infrastructure was not kept up. ‘We have an opportunity to build on the successes of recent years. These price rises are good value for money’.

Water firms seek 29% rise in bills
David Gow, The Guardian
Water and sewerage companies in England and Wales face a growing consumer backlash after announcing yesterday plans to raise average bills b 29% in real terms over the next five years.
Pamela Taylor, chief executive of industry body Water UK, said she would be ‘surprised and disappointed’ at any consumer backlash and said surveys showed 60% of customers were ‘certainly or probably’ willing to pay more for better services’.

Water clean-up plans could add £70 to bills
Michael Harrison, The Independent
Water bills could rise by an average of £70 or 29% under proposals published yesterday by the industry to spend £22bn on environmental clean-up and quality programmes over the next five years.
However, Pamela Taylor, the chief executive of the trade body Water UK said: ‘These plans are good value for money and will make a growing contribution to a healthy economy and environment in England and Wales in the years ahead’.

Water bills may gush 30%
Sean Poulter, Daily Mail
Water bills could soar by 30% industry bosses announced yesterday. They want to push up bills by 16% - around eight times inflation – next April with rest to come in the following four years. Consumer groups condemned the proposals, warning of protests on the street similar to those against council tax increases. Trade body Water UK want average bills, currently set at £240 to rise by £70 on top of inflation to £310 by 2010

30%. That’s how much your water bill is going to rise
Amy Vickers, The Express
Water industry leaders said yesterday that the average annual household bill will jump from £240 to £310 – a thirty per cent rise – by the end of the decade. Industry body Water UK said it represented ‘good value for money’. Chief executive Pamela Taylor said: ‘These final business plans have been built up fairly, using real cost. Although there are still issues to sort out there is a broad consensus that the prices are worth paying’.

Rises in pipeline
Daily Star
Water UK, which represents suppliers, claims the rises are essential to cover a massive £22 billion maintenance and improvement programme. Pamela Taylor, Water UK’s chief executive said the charges represented ‘good value for money’.

Water bills to rise 30% - H2Oh no!
Tim Spanton, The Sun
Water companies are warning price rise of 30 per cent are in the pipeline. The firms plan to add £70 to the average household over the next five years – and that’s even before inflation is taken into account

Water Rats – Bosses get it as bills go up
The Sun
A row broke out last night over plans to rack up household water charges. The average bill goes from £240 to £310 by 2010. That’s an extra £14 a year over the next five years – with a likely £25 rise in 2005. Industry representative Water UK said this was less than rises proposed last year but rattled consumer groups still rapped the supply companies.
Sun City comment: Don’t blame the water companies – they’re having to pay more tax to the treasury and finance environmental measures demanded by the Government and the EU.

Saturday, 8th May

Clearer Waters
Lex Column, Financial Times
As the regulator’s axe prepares to swing at the start of each five-year pricing period, the UK water industry regularly goes through a spell of uncertainty. In the 12 months leading up to the swingeing 1999 price determination, the sector underperformed the UK market by 40%. This time round, it has gone through a similar wobble, slipping in relative terms by 30% from March to October last year. The clouds, however, are now lifting.

Regulator signals ‘inevitable’ rise in water bills
Andrew Taylor, Financial Times
Water Companies are likely to get the go-ahead for big increases in household water bills, Ofwat, the industry regulator has signalled. Philip Fletcher, Ofwat director-general, said he sympathised with customers but prices needed to rise ‘in some cases significantly’ to pay for a £22bn investment programme

Customers face 45% increase in water bills
Tessa Thorniley, Daily Telegraph
Households in the south of England are facing the steepest rise in British water charges after the industry outlined spending plans for the next five years yesterday. Under the plans, customers with South West Water in Devon, Cornwall and pockets of Dorset and Somerset will pay the highest water and sewerage bills by 2010.

Walking on water
Notebook, The Guardian
The water industry has to find billions to replace Britain’s ancient pipes and sewers. It has to stump up billions more to meet demanding targets for improving water quality and it can’t even cut off customers who fail to pay. So it is also labouring under huge bad debts. Cue demands for extraordinary price increases, which look likely to be approved by industry regulator Ofwat later this year.

Ofwat voices concern at plans for bigger bills
Charlotte Moore, The Guardian
Water industry regulator Ofwat yesterday expressed concern about price increase proposals as fresh details emerged about individual companies plans to fund higher spending. Thames Water plans the biggest increase in bills but South West Water will pay the most.

£100 a year on water bills: Increases will plunge customers into debt, firms told.
Sean Poulter, Daily Mail
Water companies claims the charges are needed to keep the taps from running dry. They say that unless a £2 2billion building and maintenance programme is carried out, key parts of the ageing pipe network could collapse. However, consumer groups rejected the proposals and warned that those on fixed incomes, such as pensioners, will be driven into debt. And there are suspicions that the increases are designed to line the coffers of the companies in order to fund a new multi-billion pound dividend giveaway to shareholders.

£28: Average rise in your water bill next year
Ruki Sayid, Daily Mirror
Water companies were accused of ‘fleecing their customers’ yesterday over plans to raise bills by around £28 a household.
Trade body Water UK said the companies need to raise £22bn to pay for maintenance work and improvements. The proposed increases are being studied by watchdog Ofwat.

Protest at plans to raise bills by £122 a year
Afifa Akbar, The Independent
Consumer watchdogs yesterday attacked plans by the water industry to increase bills by as much as £122. They said prices rises of up to 45% would hit vulnerable groups on low income the hardest and increase consumer debt. The 22 water companies in England an Wales announced the price rises in their final business plans. Water UK, which represents water suppliers, said the industry was pressing ahead with plans to raise bills by almost 30% between 2005 and 2010.