[Sussex] Southern Water Price Increase

[beorhthelm]

Am I missing something here as it goes up over 40% in 2024/25? Not over 5 years.

i'm going by what Ofwat agreed in price review some months back, setting prices and rises for 2025-2030. the reporting says this will all come in 2025. maybe it does, followed by 4 years of no increases.

 

[rippleman]

Exactly!

For the most part, water supply in this country is now simply a privatised monopoly.

A monopoly, where even the regulator is happy for companies to continue to pollute and provide bad service with very little consequence for the company, whilst increasing profits for their shareholders and increasing wages for their 'top' employees.

But as with the energy regulator, the water regulator is in league with the water companies by allowing them to hike up prices by these ridiculously high amounts. The Regulator has the power to tell the suppliers (eg) "25% and no more". They don't and they won't. The Regulators are not fit for purpose. They have no intention of protecting the consumer. They should be gone.

 

[peterward]

I appreciate that. I can see you are genuinely trying to help

I was....... I'm in Severn Trent water area personally.... my dad is Southern and I'm genuinely gobsmacked they can hike price for a basic life necessity by 47% and nobody can do anything.....

Government needs to act and intervene, many older people have had their winter fuel payments cut and now an almost 50% hike in water..... if it needs to be partially subsidised or companies broken up it should be.

A granny on state pension in a bedsit isn't wealthy just because she's in SE England, nor have rain clouds that fill reservoirs gone up up in price by 47%.

Naked profiteering of a monopoly and rules that allow it.

 

[Guinness Boy]

It's a circle of despair isn't it?

Southern Water are useless. Tipping sewage into rivers and seas at will is one thing. The goons they sent out round our way to fix a leak their contractors created, in the middle of the night, by spraying the pipe on to a neighbours property instead of down the drain was quite the thing to behold.

And yet they are not going to get any better by denying them the funds to fix things.

I blame Maggie. Water is a basic human right and its supply and management should be nationalised.

 

[beorhthelm]

I was....... I'm in Severn Trent water area personally.... my dad is Southern and I'm genuinely gobsmacked they can hike price for a basic life necessity by 47% and nobody can do anything.....

Government needs to act and intervene, many older people have had their winter fuel payments cut and now an almost 50% hike in water..... if it needs to be partially subsidised or companies broken up it should be.

A granny on state pension in a bedsit isn't wealthy just because she's in SE England, nor have rain clouds that fill reservoirs gone up up in price by 47%.

Naked profiteering of a monopoly and rules that allow it.

government has intervened. through the regulator they have directed the companies invest more in sewage and determined how much bills may rise to cover this.

lunch time reading https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/regulated-...d we set limits on,year between 2025 and 2030.

 

[Mustafa II]

It certainly seems as if many people have unrealistic expectations of the water companies.

Everyone is demanding that they spend billions on upgrading their infrastructure - although they don't want to see their bills increase to pay for it.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

It certainly seems as if many people have unrealistic expectations of the water companies.

Everyone is demanding that they spend billions on upgrading their infrastructure - although they don't want to see their bills increase to pay for it.

It is reasonable to expect water companies to spend money on infrastructure, and not on massive pay rises for their CEOs or dividends. Dividends should only be paid out when profits are made, and profits should be spent on improvements, not dividends.
Customers are not cash cows.

 

[Mustafa II]

It is reasonable to expect water companies to spend money on infrastructure, and not on massive pay rises for their CEOs or dividends. Dividends should only be paid out when profits are made, and profits should be spent on improvements, not dividends.
Customers are not cash cows.

I don't think it's that simple - the water industry is a safe investment, but it is not a very profitable one. The water companies are struggling financially, Thames for example are/have been very close to going bust.

Using Southern Water as an example, they have not paid dividends since 2017, so that can't be a solution either.

I don't know about CEO wages and bonuses compared to other companies - but I doubt their wages/bonuses would be enough to make a dent in the billions required for the investment of infrastructure to bring it up to a satisfactory standard. Also consider, if the CEOs were not paid competitive salaries, then you are even more likely to end up with leaders not fit for the job.

I am all for renationalisation at some point - but at the moment, someone needs to pay for this - and if we were to have cheaper water bills, then the money would have to be found elsewhere through taxation (probably even higher council tax increases).

 

[HillBarnTillIDie]

So what can we and should we do about the increase?

Roll over and take it.

Good point……I had posted about that on the other thread when this price increase was muted last year but forgot.

i can see now that perhaps the OP has a point about media frenzy and that should be acknowledged……not sure it changes the underlying points being made…..lack of investment in previous years ….poor building of new resevoirs etc

I was told by a Southern Water rep on the phone this morning the 40% would be in April.

 

[Since1982]

It certainly seems as if many people have unrealistic expectations of the water companies.

Everyone is demanding that they spend billions on upgrading their infrastructure - although they don't want to see their bills increase to pay for it.

No. Reasonable price increases are a fact of life, and most of us accept that when the product or service is fit for purpose. The difference here is that the taxpayer wrote off the debt for these companies when privatised, since then they have added fresh debt such that their credit rating has been downgraded, returned a good yield to their shareholders, failed to deliver an acceptable service and now want customers to pay again. All this while operating a monopoly. i think we are entitled to be unhappy.

 

[LamieRobertson]

So what can we and should we do about the increase?

Roll over and take it.

I was told by a Southern Water rep on the phone this morning the 40% would be in April.

Aye ..see below..in that case I’ll go back to my earlier post criticising the b*****ds

Annual average bill changes 2025 -2026 | Water UK

Annual average bill changes 2025 -2026

www.water.org.uk

 

[portlock seagull]

I was informed that if you are a low income family then you could receive a 45% discount….

So still a 25%isn increase. Sure that’s more than affordable amongst everything else

 

[schmunk]

You seem to mis-understand the underlying reason any business exists. This is to make a profit and generate wealth... .that it, its the only sole purpose of a business.

Why would any business decide to invest in certain things if it doesn't need to in order to meet its objectives? - Why would it spend money on "leak prevention" or "aquatic life" if it doesn't need to. its not up to the business to fix this,that's up to regulations to be put in place to protect these types of things happening and then make the business play by the rules. That is not the business's ultimate responsibility

P.s just like to point out that people who disagree with your opinion aren't always trolls....

You are absolutely correct here, even if many people find this concept uncomfortable - the point being that such essentially (and monopolised) services should never have been privatised in the first place.

 

[Papak]

I also think it's a bit of an uphill battle for water companies -

Simple answer to that one:

Archimedes' screw - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Papak]

A 40% price increase will take our bill to pretty much £200 a month, with no choice to switch provider in a so called 'free market'.

Incredible!

Wow, are you on a meter?

My house occupancy is approx. 1.5 people on average, maybe a tiny bit less and I pay Southern £30 per month by DD and have done for quite a while. I think it was £28 previously. With a 40% increase I'm looking at £42 per month.

I'm careful with water (as well as a lot of other things like gas and electricity) and keep waste to an absolute minimum i.e. no car washing, lawn watering etc. so I cannot comprehend where your consumption is coming from unless your bath is the size of an Olympic swimming pool...

 

[Mileoakman]

In the 60's I started work for Brighton Council who supplied water and sewage services from Shoreham through to Saltdean. I worked in the Shoreham branch issuing and collecting the monies for that area.
Bills were sent each 6 months and ranged from about 75p to around £10 for a really big house and probably averaged about £5 or £10 a year.
Obviously inflation would bump this up considerably over 60 years but nowhere near the £700+ now being suggested.
Privatisation was always a con with no tangible benefits except for shareholders and certainly not customers.
If I'm wrong perhaps someone can tell me what we have gained as a result. Certainly not cost and certainly not quality of service.

 

[banjo]

A 40% price increase will take our bill to pretty much £200 a month, with no choice to switch provider in a so called 'free market'.

Incredible!

 

[Mustafa II]

If I'm wrong perhaps someone can tell me what we have gained as a result. Certainly not cost and certainly not quality of service.

Quality of service has gone up. I'm not a fan of privatisation, but the water industry is heavily regulated compared to the other privatised services.

As a result, drinking water is considerably safer than the 1960's.

And despite the media reports, there are likely considerably fewer sewage pollution events. It only is such an issue right now because we actually know about them due to recent regulations. In 2010, only 7% of storm overflows were monitored. Since 2023, 100% of storm overflows are now monitored. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/storm-overflows-monitoring-hits-100-target)

 

[Mileoakman]

Quality of service has gone up. I'm not a fan of privatisation, but the water industry is heavily regulated compared to the other privatised services.

As a result, drinking water is considerably safer than the 1960's.

And despite the media reports, there are likely considerably fewer sewage pollution events. It only is such an issue right now because we know about them due to new regulations. In 2010, only 7% of storm overflows were monitored. Since 2023, 100% of storm overflows are now monitored. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/storm-overflows-monitoring-hits-100-target)

I beg to differ. How you can say quality of service has gone up when not a week goes by without some story surfacing of polution in the sea and rivers, water supply being cut off for days at a time in large areas, water shortages and restrictions nearly every summer.
If quality has gone up in your opinion I would hate to see what things would be like if you thought they had gone down!

 

[1066familyman]

Wow, are you on a meter?

My house occupancy is approx. 1.5 people on average, maybe a tiny bit less and I pay Southern £30 per month by DD and have done for quite a while. I think it was £28 previously. With a 40% increase I'm looking at £42 per month.

I'm careful with water (as well as a lot of other things like gas and electricity) and keep waste to an absolute minimum i.e. no car washing, lawn watering etc. so I cannot comprehend where your consumption is coming from unless your bath is the size of an Olympic swimming pool...

Forced onto a meter.

No car washing. No watering the garden.

Five people in the house, two of which are teenage daughters. Says it all really.

No matter how careful I am with water usage, it makes no difference unfortunately.