Another day another U-turn from the regulators

Despite only 24 hours ago suggesting that the average household water bill in the UK would fall by £14 the regulator has performed a massive U-turn and ruled that prices will, on average, fall by just three pounds in real terms. There is no doubt that the water companies in the UK have placed significant pressure on Ofwat to reconsider the initial suggestion that the average UK water bill should fall by £14 year.

As a consequence of this pressure, it seems as though a number of people in the UK will actually see their water bills rise and there is concern that yet again a chance to at least control the power of the utility companies in the short term has again been missed. It would seem that a compromise has been reached with consumer groups, water companies and the regulator with the unions also concerned that the proposed reduction in water charges would have led to significant job losses across the sector.

The difference in pricing policies across the UK is significant with some bills falling by 7% and others actually increasing by 13% before the impact of inflation is taken into account. Unfortunately, early hope of assistance for UK consumers and UK businesses has disappeared over the last few hours.