Water bills to SURGE by up to 13% this April: 'Totally unacceptable!'

Public frustration over sewage pollution has intensified in recent years, with customers increasingly angered by rising charges intended to fund improvements following what critics describe as decades of insufficient investment.

The regulator Ofwat has permitted companies to raise bills by 36 per cent across the period from 2025 to 2030, with roughly 20 per cent of that total already applied in last April's increase.

The scale of increases varies considerably depending on location, creating a postcode lottery for customers across the country. Severn Trent customers face a 10 per cent jump in their bills, while those supplied by Sutton and East Surrey will see charges climb by 11 per cent.

Bristol Water is implementing a 12 per cent rise, with Affinity Water customers in the central region hit hardest by a 13 per cent increase. South East Water is pushing bills up by seven per cent to reach £324 annually, despite the company leaving customers without supply on multiple occasions recently.

Storm Goretti caused burst pipes and power failures this month, disrupting supplies for days. This followed an incident the previous month when 24,000 residents in Tunbridge Wells went without drinking water for a fortnight.

The company's chief executive and chairman are due to face questioning from MPs regarding the repeated outages. Kent residents have expressed fury at South East Water's price hike given the company's recent failures.

Ian Rennardson, a retired banker from Tunbridge Wells, told The Times the increase as "totally unacceptable to be putting prices up under the current circumstances," adding that the company's chief executive David Hinton had declined invitations to meet with local residents.

"They should be giving us money, shouldn't they?" he said.

Jonathan Hawker, who established the Dry Wells Action community group in Tunbridge Wells, acknowledged that infrastructure modernisation was necessary but criticised the lack of transparency around executive remuneration.

"The reality is prices are going to have to go up because we have to pay for their incompetence," he said. The Consumer Council for Water reported a 51 per cent surge in complaints during 2025, driven primarily by affordability concerns and anger over last April's substantial increase.

CCW chief executive Mike Keil said: "We've seen complaints brought to CCW about the affordability of water bills almost triple in the past year and further bill rises will compound people's worries."

He emphasised that while customers back investment in better services, "they are impatient for change and need to see compelling evidence their money is being well spent."

The watchdog has called for a universal single social tariff, arguing the current patchwork of company schemes creates an unfair system that cannot cope with escalating charges.

Water UK chief executive David Henderson defended the rises, stating: "We understand increasing bills is never welcome, but the money is needed to fund vital upgrades to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas."

The industry body said approximately 2.5 million households would receive assistance, with average discounts of around 40 per cent available.

Ofwat interim chief executive Chris Walters outlined targets including the installation of more than eight million household water meters by April 2027, replacement of nearly 3,000 kilometres of piping, and a 30 per cent reduction in sewage spills from storm overflows compared to 2024 levels.

Environmental campaigners remain deeply sceptical. Rob Abrams, campaign manager at Surfers Against Sewage, said: "Nearly a third of our water bills are swallowed up servicing the water company debt pile and shelling out dividends whilst we get sick from sewage."

He questioned why customers should trust promises of improvement, describing water as "a necessity" being "milked for profit while sewage is pumped into our waters."

River Action chief executive James Wallace argued that when the sector boasts of record investment, "what it really means is that bill payers, not water companies, are being forced to pick up the tab for decades of failure."

Here is a full list of the water bill price hikes coming in 2026 per supplier:

• Affinity Water, central region (water-only): £266; up £31 (13 per cent)
• Affinity Water, eastern region (water-only): £280; up £1 (0.4 per cent)
• Affinity Water, south-east region (water-only): £294; up £3 (one per cent)
• Anglian Water (water & wastewater): £674; up £44 (seven per cent)
• Bournemouth Water (water-only): £205; up £11 (six per cent)
• Bristol Water (water-only): £264; up £29 (12 per cent)
• Dwr Cymru (water & wastewater): £683; up £31 (five per cent)
• Essex & Suffolk Water (water-only): £333; up £15 (five per cent)
• Hafren Dyfrdwy (water & wastewater): £635; up £54 (nine per cent)
• Northumbrian Water (water & wastewater): £535; up £31 (six per cent)
• Portsmouth Water (water-only): £162; up £13 (eight per cent)
• Severn Trent Water (water & wastewater): £587; up £52 (10 per cent)
• South East Water (water-only): £324; up £21 (seven per cent)
• South Staffs Water, Cambridge region (water-only): £210; up £7 (three per cent)
• South Staffs Water, South Staffordshire region (water-only): £230; up £6 (two per cent)
• South West Water (water & wastewater): £740; up £39 (six per cent)
• Southern Water (water & wastewater): £759; up £55 (eight per cent)
• Sutton & East Surrey Water (water-only): £257; up £26 (11 per cent)
• Thames Water (water & wastewater): £658; up £3 (0.4 per cent)
• United Utilities (water & wastewater): £660; up £57 (nine per cent)
• Wessex Water (water & wastewater): £695; up £17 (three per cent)
• Yorkshire Water (water & wastewater): £636; up £34 (six per cent).