Britons Might Not Even Be Able To Afford To Drown In Their Sorrows

Ofwat, the water regulator, has just announced that the average water bill in Britain will go up by 5.8% from the 1st of April-2008. Some households could also see an increase of up to 9.4% over their current bills. With Britons already groaning under high fuel, food and utility prices, the steep rise in water bills would mean that some Britons might not even be able to afford to drown in their sorrows.

Britain’s largest water supplier, Thames Water will be increasing their rates by 3.8%, while Southern Water will be raising rates by 7.8%, while Dee Valley Water will be raising their rates by a steep 9.4% over their existing rates. In fact, even though the inflation rate is 4.3%, Ofwat has admitted that they have raised the water rates by an average 24% during the last 5 years and this year too has seen the rise to be over the inflation rate.

This rise means that the average water bill will increase by 18 pounds per year and the total yearly bill will be around 330 pounds. Adding insult to injury is the decision of around 250 councils in Britain, which has decided to increase the council tax bills by 3.9%, which even if by its own claims is the lowest increase in the last 14 years, but still above the inflation rate.

This ‘forced’ decision to raise the taxes only marginally, due to the pressure applied by the government in order to control the inflation rate could have a negative impact on their spending, as per the council heads. The average band D bill will now go up to 1,374 pounds and for pensioners, it could add up to a third of their pension. Add the additional water and other burdens and older people will face a trying time just to keep their expenses in tune with their pensions.

The chief executive of Ofwat, Regina Finn said that the rate increase was necessary in order to provide better quality water and sewerage services for the present and even for future generations, and would also need to be done keeping the environment in mind. There is anyway no hope for the general public to escape the price hike since they cannot change their suppliers.

So depending on their location and their water service provider, they will have to accept whatever rate increases are pumped on them. But the government is reviewing this aspect and could bring about competition in this field too. The problem is that it costs much more to store, distribute and supply water to various households than the actual cost of the water itself.

So, therefore it could be very difficult to introduce competition in the water services arena, since unlike fuel or power, the cost of the raw materials is not clear and hence the parameters of a fair competition were not clearly defined or practical. Dame Yve Buckland of the Consumer Council for Water said that it is now upon the water service providers to show to their customers as to how they plan to improve their services after the price hike. Many experts believe that after the water services have been privatized, the price of water has gone up substantially and a lack of competition is what is fuelling these price increases.

So, Britons, at present do not seem to have any choice but to bear the additional load brought on by their water company. For people with a fixed income and also the elderly, the current year has brought only bad news and many might find that instead of this water soothing their wounds, it is in fact stinging them even more.