Water bosses want workers to foot bill for privatisation

A reservoir in Staffordshire after the hottest July on record (Picture: Stephen Craven/Geograph)

Water company bosses are trying to make us all pay for this summer’s record-breaking drought.

Water companies in England and Wales could impose “surge pricing” that factors water scarcity into bills, under plans being considered by the Ofwat regulator.

Surge pricing is the practice of charging more at times of higher demand, such as when taxi drivers raise their fares.

This proposal comes as 70 percent of England is facing drought, following the driest July in 190 years according to the Met Office.

Surge pricing has already been trialled across 14,000 houses in Lincoln and Norwich, in an effort to cut consumption during the drought. Around half of customers were forced to reduce their usage over being made to pay significantly more in summer months.

But campaigners have slammed the plans as creating a “new class of water poor”, with access depending on your ability to pay.

Bosses have been too busy lining their own pockets to make the vital repairs to pipes needed to prevent unnecessary loss of water.

Research by Greenpeace UK found that 2.87 billion litres of water a day seep from leaky pipes in England and Wales. That is enough to fill 1,150 Olympic-sized swimming pools and amounts to a fifth of all water pumped through the network.

Water companies have already been given the go ahead to raise bills to pay for the billions of pounds of extra spending needed for infrastructure and repairs. It has led to Andy Burnham accusing them of treating their customers like a “blank cheque”.

Once again, working class people are being expected to foot the bill for the unfettered profiteering of a few.

People should refuse to pay for the failure of privatisation that has left millions struggling to pay for water.