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Industry news
Southern Water to raise charges in the summer
Friday, February 26, 2010
Southern Water is to be the first utility company to charge extra to supply its customers in the hot summer months.
Seven water companies are thought to be considering a move to so-called "seasonal tariffs", which has the blessing of industry regulator Ofwat. But Southern, which supplies more than a million customers in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, will formally announce the decision today.
The change will mean from June 1 through to the end of September, Southern customers who have the new range of automated water meters installed in their homes will then be charged a higher rate of 99.9p per thousand litres, against a winter charge of 92.2p. Customers with the old meters will continue to be charged 94.9p throughout the year.
Southern is accelerating the introduction of the new meters and expects to install them in almost 500,000 homes over the next five years.
The company insists that there will be no increase in the typical customer's annual bill and the measure is not designed to increase charges but to discourage "non-essential use" at times when water resources are under particular stress. Southern will monitor the use of water after the introduction of the tariff to see if it has any effect.
However consumer groups have already expressed concern that the introduction of seasonal tariffs might hit households that are heavy water users, such as large families with gardens.
This story was featured on the Business Times website.
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