Average bills 2025/26 press statement
30 Jan 2025 01:19 PM
Ofwat’s full statement, following the announcement from Water UK regarding new charges from water companies for 2025/26, Ofwat’s full statement
David Black, Ofwat Chief Executive, said:
“We recognise the challenge that some customers are facing with increasing financial pressures and understand that the water sector is not the only area where customers are faced with rising costs. While water bills will vary depending on the circumstances of each household, the average increase forecasted for 2025/26 will be 26% or £123. We have pushed companies to double the amount of support over the next five-year period and strongly encourage customers who are struggling to pay their water bills to contact their water company to access this.
“While bills are rising, the £104bn investment we have approved over the next five years will accelerate the delivery of cleaner rivers and seas and help to secure long-term drinking water supplies for customers. This is an ambitious programme of work, and we now need to see companies deliver significant improvement in performance for customers and the environment. Where companies underperform, or investment isn’t delivered, we will hold companies to account and protect customers.”
Notes to editors
- Today’s annual announcement sets out charges by water companies for 2025-26 only. This is separate to the PR24 process which sets the allowed revenue cap for the 2025-30 period.
- Average bills are an average across all water company customers, and different customers will see different changes depending on things such as whether they move to a social tariff (i.e. a reduced tariff for those who are eligible) or if they use more or less water.
- With much of the work starting during the first few months of the five-year investment plan, this year we expect companies to have no serious pollution incidents and to see storm overflow spills reduce by 34% from 2023-24 to 2025-26, the equivalent to 210,304 spills. We also expect companies to reduce water supply interruptions lasting longer than 3 hours by 65% and reduce leakage by 11%.
- Bill changes for each water company can be seen on the Discover Water website.
- More information on the help and support available for bill payers can be found here: Cost of living – Ofwat
- CCW’s help with your water bill page is also packed with advice and tools including its water meter calculator, Benefits Calculator and social tariff guide.