Ofwat's draft proposals will increase household water bills in England and Wales by an average of £19 a year over the next five years, significantly less than requested by water companies. Water UK chief executive David Henderson criticised the decision, stating that reduced investment would hinder housing development, slow river recovery, and impede efforts to address future water shortages. He urged Ofwat to reconsider and allow necessary infrastructure investments to proceed. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Ofwat's decision today cuts the capital investment program of water companies in England and Wales by 25 percent.
00:05We understand this is a tough time for very many people and bill rises are never welcome,
00:09but this decision by Ofwat puts our environment and our economy at risk.
00:13The recovery of our rivers will be slower, house building will be increasingly blocked and
00:19our economy and the wider growth will not happen as much as we need it to.
00:23For too long Ofwat has prioritised artificially suppressing bills.
00:26They've been falling year on year on year in real terms and so by 2030 if this decision today stands
00:32they'll be in about the same place as they were in 2010.
00:35In the same time we've had our climate change occur and we've had our population grow.
00:39If we want our environment to withstand the pressures of a growing population and a changing climate
00:44and we want our economy to grow, we need to invest in our very tired and very old infrastructure.