UK households rushing to escape £224 water bill hike next month

Some suppliers will hike prices by as much as £224 a year and the average household water and sewerage bill in England and Wales will jump by 26 per cent, or £123 a year, to £603.

06:47, 16 Mar 2025Updated 07:02, 16 Mar 2025

Some suppliers will hike prices by as much as £224 a year and the average household water and sewerage bill in England and Wales will jump by 26 per cent, or £123 a year, to £603.

UK households who have a water bill can escape a £200 bill hike in April - thanks to social tariffs. Some suppliers will hike prices by as much as £224 a year and the average household water and sewerage bill in England and Wales will jump by 26 per cent, or £123 a year, to £603.

WaterSure is a scheme which helps some people with their water bills. To apply for the scheme, you must be on benefits and need to use a lot of water either for medical reasons or because your household has a certain number of school-age children. You also need to be on a water meter or be waiting to have one installed.

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If you get help through the WaterSure scheme, your water bill will be capped. This means you will not pay any more than the average metered bill for the area your water company deals with. In some cases, your normal metered water bill could be less than your company's WaterSure cap. If this applies to you, you will only be billed for the amount of water you use.

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You can ask your water company what their cap is if you want to check this before applying. 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.

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"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."

Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water, said: “These rises are the largest we’ve seen since privatisation and will heap considerable pressure on millions of customers who are already having to make difficult choices.

"Around 2.5 million households are already in debt to their water company and there is a danger that number will grow unless some companies show more ambition around financial support. The existing safety net for customers who cannot afford their water bill is not strong enough. That’s why we urgently need a single social tariff scheme to provide fair and consistent support across England and Wales.”