FIVE water firms have been told they will not be allowed to increase customer bills by as much as they wanted following a review by the UK’s competition watchdog.
Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, South East Water, Southern Water and Wessex Water will be allowed an expected average increase of 2.2% to customer bills, on top of the 24% hike they had already been granted.
This is less than the 3% average increase to bills that they had been provisionally granted in October.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it was allowing some extra funding for the five firms, but significantly short of the total amount they had requested.
Kirstin Baker, chairwoman of the independent group appointed by the CMA, said: “We’ve rejected most of the bill increases water companies asked for but allowed limited extra funding where that’s genuinely needed, balancing concerns about affordability with the need to secure our water supplies and cut pollution.
“A significant part of this extra money reflects market movements since Ofwat’s decision.”
