News
South West Water’s Profits Rise – As Do Customer Bills
South West Water customers have some of the most expensive water prices throughout the entire UK, despite the fact that the company claims bills have dropped since 2009 and despite the fact that its parent company has seen its profits climb by over a quarter in the last six months.
According to Cornwall Live, the company’s customers paid on average £495 between 2015 and 2016, and £497 between 2016 and 2017, the highest in the UK. Pennon Group’s results for the six months leading up to September 30th this year were £112.3 million, a rise of 26 per cent on the £89.1 million it made for the first half of last year.
In comparison, average combined bills for Anglian Water were £389 for 2016/2017, Northumbrian Water bills were £379, Severn Trent averaged out at £328, Thames Water peaked at £372 and United Utilities at £411.
However, South West Water has pledged to ensure that hikes in household bills climb below the rate of inflation until the end of the decade. And the average bill for both water and wastewater services for the 2017/2018 year will peak at £391, a drop of one per cent on the previous year… which means the company is the only one to reduce its average bills for this timeframe.
Commenting on the matter, South West Water explained that because the population in Devon and Cornwall is typically more spread out than in bigger urban centres, it means that it is more expensive to carry out infrastructure work.
A spokeswoman was quoted by the news source as saying: “The relatively small number of people that live in the south-west are spread across a very wide area with few major urban centres. The result is higher than average infrastructure costs and a lower than average number of customers to share the costs.
“To put this into context, Thames Water has one sewage treatment works serving three million customers in East London while we maintain more than 650 across four counties and along two long coastlines serving 1.7 million people.”
If you’re concerned that your bills are too high, whether you’re a South West Water customer or otherwise, having a water audit carried out could prove to be particularly beneficial. This kind of preliminary water report will give you a very good idea of where you can save money on your bills by comparing billing and usage data. This comparison will then reveal opportunities for you to reduce your water use, cut costs and even potentially get a refund for historic overcharging.
Part of this audit process also includes water bill validation, which will make sure that you pay what you should for water and no more than that. A water audit will check that previous bills are accurate and that overcharging hasn’t taken place, as well as identifying ways to save money on your future bills and ongoing monitoring of your bills to make sure you never pay more than you should be.
For a water audit contact H20 Building Services on 01924 387 873 or email info@h2obuildingservices.co.uk