Water bills are set to rise 30 per cent over the next five years, an independent report warned today as the Government confirmed the existing regulator will be abolished.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed confirmed today that water regulator Ofwat will be scrapped as part of an overhaul of a ‘broken’ regulatory system.
He said: ‘Today I can announce that the Labour Government will abolish Ofwat. In the biggest overhaul of water regulation in a generation, we will bring water functions from four different regulators into one.’
Mr Reed said the new single regulator would be ‘powerful’ and ‘responsible for the entire water sector’, with a clear mandate to ‘stand firmly on the side of customers, investors and the environment’.
‘It will prevent the abuses of the past,’ he said. ‘For customers, it will oversee investment and maintenance so hardworking British families are never again hit by the shocking bill hikes we saw last year.’
Mr Reed also declared ‘today marks the start of a water revolution’ as he unveiled plans to create a single regulator for the water sector.
He said the new body would end the ‘tangle of ineffective regulation’ and deliver for customers, investors and the environment.
‘For the environment, it will cut all forms of pollution to clean up our rivers, lakes and seas for good,’ Mr Reed said.
Ofwat will remain in place during the transition, but he said it would be given a clear mandate to provide strong leadership in the interim.
‘This is our chance to make sure our children and their children can create the same wonderful memories we remember from our own childhoods,’ he added.
‘Splashing about in the waves on the beach, rowing along a river, without having to worry about toxic sewage pollution. Today marks the start of a water revolution.’
More to follow
Environment Secretary Steve Reed gives a speech at Kingfisher Wharf in London this morning, following the publication of the Independent Water Commission report
