Water bills set to rise

Thames Water to add £35m to its annual operating cost as Parliament confirms private sewers transfer

THAMES Water customers are to see an increase in their water bills after new regulations drawn up by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, over the maintenance of sewers and drains, were agreed on Friday.

Parliament has formalised legal regulations for the transfer to water and sewerage companies of sections of drains and sewers currently owned and maintained by householders.

The regulations are to take effect from October 1 and will affect nearly all water and sewerage customers in England and Wales.

Privately owned sewers and lateral drains will transfer to the companies, meaning more West Berkshire homeowners will soon be able to contact Thames Water company to sort out any problems with blocked or broken drainage pipes, and avoid paying a large one-off cost to fix it.

However, the additional service will result in higher bills overall for water rate-payers.

The chief executive of Thames Water, Martin Baggs, said: “Although this will be a very big operational challenge for us, we welcome the clarity and peace of mind that the Government's decision to transfer private sewers to water companies will bring for our customers.

“The additional cost to our customers – estimated to be between £4 and £14 a year - will protect customers against infrequent but large one-off costs to which they are currently exposed.

“But this change-over will not be straightforward for water companies: for example, overnight we at Thames Water will take on an additional network of sewers longer than some other sewerage companies' entire sewerage networks. So we would urge customers to bear with us while we assess the condition of the newly-acquired pipes and set about monitoring and maintaining them.”

Generally, the sections of drainage being transferred are those shared by two or more properties. Shared drainage built before 1937 is not affected by the transfer as water and sewerage companies already maintain these pipes.

In Thames Water's case, an estimated 40,000km of lateral drains and sewers will be added overnight to its existing 67,000km sewerage network across London and Thames Valley – a 60 per cent increase, which will add about £35m to its annual operating costs.

Environment Minister and Newbury MP, Richard Benyon, said: “The transfer will stop the financial threat of customers being hit with huge repair bills for sewers that sometimes aren't even on their property. It's a much fairer and simpler approach which will also improve the overall quality of the network to reduce the chance of problems in the first place.”