Monday
13 February 2023
Water
Bill Increase
Each
year, Affinity Water review the amount they charge for water, taking
into account various factors such as inflation. They have
compiled a webpage that helps customers better understand the changes in
price, the reasoning behind the increase, how it will be used,
and how Oftwat regulate these changes.
We’d like you to read this webpage here [and shown below], and then answer the questions below.
Our tariff – the amount we charge for the supply of clean water is reviewed each year.
We know that you may be feeling worried about
rising energy bills and an increase in the inflation rate which is pushing up
the cost of living.
Inflation is the highest it’s been since 1980 which
means things like our energy costs, pipes, fuel, and things we use to treat
your water are now much more expensive than they were last year.
From 1 April 2023, the price of your water bill
will increase, but we've worked hard to keep this change as small as possible.
We’ll also be providing extra support for up to 30,000 customers who are most
in need with a £50 Cost of Living payment credited to their account. We’ll be
contacting customers directly who are eligible for this.
We’ve not made this decision lightly, especially in
the current climate and with wider cost of living pressures. We don't like to
increase our prices, but this year it has become necessary to make some changes
to the amount we charge due to inflationary pressures and to ensure we can
continue to invest in our network, support those in need with social tariffs
and protect the environment.
Our prices are overseen by our regulator, OFWAT, who makes sure our plans and our investments are fair and beneficial for our customers. You can find the full details of our tariffs in our Customer Charges Scheme- 23/24 document, but we've provided some simpler examples based on average bills below.
[Visit the webpage to see two illustrations, one for metered customers showing a monthly increase of £1.85, the other for unmetered customers showing an increase of £2.25.]
That’s still about 1.4p for every 10 litres of high-quality drinking water you enjoy.
How we can help if you're struggling to pay
If you've had a sudden life change and need some
time to get back on your feet, we may be able to arrange a payment break.
You can spread the cost of your bill with a
flexible payment plan.
If you’re receiving benefits, such as Universal
Credit or Job Seeker’s Allowance, you may be eligible for a reduced bill.
Contact us to find out how we can help:
[Details of how to contact Affinity water]
Please share your thoughts on the changes, including:
- What your first
thoughts are after reading this document, and why
- How you feel about the price changes the document talks about
- Do they
feel reasonable? Why/ why not?
First
thoughts: the material presented in the document seems okay, but the tone is
unnecessarily defensive, and the order in which some of the material is
presented feels haphazard. The size of the price change(s) is not awful in cash
terms, but it does seem to me to be quite high in terms of a percentage
increase. However, I do not know what the size of the average water bill is.
The fact that the percentage increase is not stated looks as though the
document is trying to hide this information. The impression with which I am
left is that Affinity Water is attempting to increase its charges under cover
of inflation rather than because of increased costs due to inflation. Greater
transparency would be better. The sentence that reads: "Our prices are
overseen by our regulator, OFWAT, who makes sure our plans and our investments
are fair and beneficial for our customers. " says very clearly: "If
you don't like this price rise, tough. There's nothing you can do about it
because it will be / has already been approved by OFWAT."
How does this increase compare to price increases you are seeing with other bills and utilities? Does the price change make you feel any differently about Affinity? If so, how?
I understand at least some aspects of the purpose of your
question. However, merely asking the question suggests the possibility that
Affinity Water may be trying to get away with hiking its prices. It is clever
you asking about other utilities, because you know very well that electricity
and gas prices have rocketed, and therefore anything that Affinity Water does
will appear measured. The honest answer to your question is that I don't know
how the price rise compares with other companies. Good Energy seem to be a law
unto themselves, and hike their prices when it suits them, as a result of which
I have lost all faith in them, and I have already decided that once this
present energy price crisis is over, I shall move to a different supplier.
Southern Water is the water company to which I pay supposedly to have my waste-water
removed and treated(!), and I have been actively considering having a waste
water treatment plant / septic tank installed instead of paying Southern Water
'through the nose' for waste water that I use for garden irrigation. However,
regarding the supply of fresh water, I am a captive customer. Therefore, at
root, why should it matter to Affinity Water whether I trust the company? I
have no choice but to pay whatever numbers are written on the bill.
Affinity Water has presented two comfortably-small figures (£1.85
and £2.25, which I think may be the price of a mug of coffee on the high
street) but neither stating the percentage increase, nor that I should expect
to pay in the region of £22.20 or £27.00 extra per year, that is, forgoing a
cup of high street coffee every month indefinitely. I do not have an income
that can rise with inflation (actually, I do not have an income at all), so
Affinity Water's gain is necessarily my loss (zero-sum game). Can I expect to
receive a better service from Affinity Water for the extra money? If Affinity
Water wants me actually to believe that the increase in price is factually
necessary, and not simply a way to wring more money out of me, then I need to
be shown the evidence. Otherwise Affinity Water is just another company jumping
on the inflation bandwagon.
