Water Bills Going Up

31 January 2012, 09:55 | Updated: 30 March 2016, 13:50

Water bills in the North East are set to go up by around £17 a year.

Northumbrian Water have announced the increase - of just over 5% - along with other water companies around the country.

People living further south are likely to be hit harder, with bills there going up by more than 6%.

Southern Water are charging their customers £31 more a year.

The increases are likely to mean bills will be around £376 in total and come in from April.

The water industry regulator Ofwat says we're still paying for £22 billion worth of improvements. 

Northumbrian Water's investing an average of £175 million on essential improvements each year from 2010 to 2015 - a total of £875m over the five year period.

The company say they're investing in major improvements to maintain and improve drinking water quality delivered through its network of 16,000km of water pipes.

Heidi Mottram, Northumbrian Water's Chief Executive Officer, said:
"Although appreciating that any increase in charges will not be welcomed our household customers will still pay on average less than £1 per day for all their drinking water and sewerage services which represents good value for money."