Soaring bills may be here to stay despite a major shake-up of the water industry, the Environment Secretary admitted yesterday.
Steve Reed is expected to unveil plans today to abolish industry regulator Ofwat as part of a ‘revolution’ designed to fix the ‘broken’ system.
He said reforms would lead to sewage deposited in lakes and rivers being halved by 2030 – and pledged to quit if the target is not met.
The package will also include the creation of a water ombudsman with legal powers to resolve disputes on behalf of customers.
Mr Reed dropped heavy hints that he will scrap Ofwat when he unveils a report on the future of the water sector today.
He said: ‘The regulator is clearly failing. It’s failed everybody. It’s failed customers, we saw those huge bill rises.
‘It’s failed the environment, we see the state of iconic lakes, like Windermere, beaches like the beach of Bournemouth.’
But Mr Reed refused three times to rule out future above-inflation increases in water bills, which are already set to rise by an average of 36 per cent by 2030 to ‘fund improvements’.
Steve Reed (pictured last year) is expected to unveil plans today to abolish industry regulator Ofwat as part of a ‘revolution’ designed to fix the ‘broken’ system
He said: ‘It’s failed the environment, we see the state of iconic lakes, like Windermere, beaches like the beach of Bournemouth’. Pictured: Protesters against the dumping of sewage, gathered at Bournemouth Pier, Dorset, in 2021
The package will also include the creation of a water ombudsman with legal powers to resolve disputes on behalf of customers. Pictured: File photo
He said the Government had ‘secured’ a record £104billion of private sector investment to help fix leaking pipes, build reservoirs and cut sewage discharges.
But he claimed he was ‘furious’ about the huge bill increases which will pay for it and wanted to see costs kept ‘as low as possible’.
The future of the water sector report is also expected to recommend ‘social tariffs’ for people on low incomes.
The subsidies would be funded by high charges on middle-class families.
Tory housing spokesman Kevin Hollinrake warned against the idea.
He said families were ‘already facing soaring water bills under Labour… We can’t just keep increasing taxes and charges’.
