[Finance] Southern Water over 50% increase in bills

[BN41Albion]

Don't agree to it. Tell them to only put your DD up by the %age that the PRICE has gone up. Especially as you're currently in credit. If they are reluctant, just tell them to bill you twice a year by paper and you'll pay on receipt of the second reminder. I think they'll negotiate the amount of the DD. But if not, just cancel it and let them chase you for it.

It's almost as if they're trying it on. But they wouldn't do that, though, would they!

Thanks - will certainly do that

 

[A mex eyecan]

you can decrease payments on line. I’m £47 in credit, was paying £52.00 they were increasing to £80, roughly 45%. i’ve requested reduction to £70

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Got a delightful surprise from southern water this morning
water bill from the 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 £879.40 only a 52% increase from £584.40 this year!
For context
2 people 3 bed house no meter

Thank god I’ve got the football to look forward too

Based upon the average use for a UK household, 142 litres per person a day, that works out about approximately 103,660 litres for that £879.40 or about 0.848 pence per litre

Vast majority of Brits have no idea how much water they use each day | Water UK

Research reveals 46% of people believe their household uses under 20 litres a day A further 17% believe they consume between 20 and 39 litres a day while 15%…

www.water.org.uk

I haven't received a new letter yet, but we are CURRENTLY paying £110/month...
Yes I do, and a family of 6...

So that's about £1320 per year for about 310,980 litres a year (based on 6 people using 142 litres a day) or about 0.4245 pence per litre

Direct debit suddenly going up to £50 from £30 - an increase of 67% ... wtf?? I can't work out how it's such a big increase considering prices haven't gone up by that %. £30/month has covered our usage up to now- we're a little bit in credit??

So that's about £600 per year, and based upon 142 litres used per person on average per day, that would be 51,830 litres or about 0.864 pence per litre.

For that you get that water extracted, treated, pumped to your household and they are delivering some of the highest standard quality drinking water in the world.
They also have to fund investment (including returns to investors who loaned them the money in advance so they were able to invest) - Not sure if that also includes waste water removal and treatment too in that total bill)

For years OFWAT focused on Water quality and low bills, which left little scope to have funds available to spend elsewhere in the business, and OFWAT dictated what they could invest and where too.

Not a surprise that sewerage treatment and discharges into the environment were not a priority for any water company until more recently, but that will take significant investment and more importantly time to deliver solutions, including what earlier posters have mentioned, making sure surface water drains don't mix household sewage waste which goes for treatment and means heavy rain will overwhelm the works and lead to (heavily diluted) discharges of sewage into rivers and seas, but other solutions are needed too

(*the prices worked out per litre above were based on each person using 142 litres a day, (UK Average) but this may not be representative of what they are actually paying per litre, but done for illustrative purposed only making these numbers a rough estimate of cost per litre)

BTW - what do people pay on average for a litre of bottled water nowadays, bet it's significantly more?

 

[birthofanorange]

Delighted to say we've never had a water bill - they sound horrendous.

 

[Bombardier]

Delighted to say we've never had a water bill - they sound horrendous.

Go on, I‘ll bite………..how?

 

[schmunk]

Based upon the average use for a UK household, 142 litres per person a day, that works out about approximately 103,660 litres for that £879.40 or about 0.848 pence per litre

Vast majority of Brits have no idea how much water they use each day | Water UK

Research reveals 46% of people believe their household uses under 20 litres a day A further 17% believe they consume between 20 and 39 litres a day while 15%…

www.water.org.uk

So that's about £1320 per year for about 310,980 litres a year (based on 6 people using 142 litres a day) or about 0.4245 pence per litre

So that's about £600 per year, and based upon 142 litres used per person on average per day, that would be 51,830 litres or about 0.864 pence per litre.

For that you get that water extracted, treated, pumped to your household and they are delivering some of the highest standard quality drinking water in the world.
They also have to fund investment (including returns to investors who loaned them the money in advance so they were able to invest) - Not sure if that also includes waste water removal and treatment too in that total bill)

For years OFWAT focused on Water quality and low bills, which left little scope to have funds available to spend elsewhere in the business, and OFWAT dictated what they could invest and where too.

Not a surprise that sewerage treatment and discharges into the environment were not a priority for any water company until more recently, but that will take significant investment and more importantly time to deliver solutions, including what earlier posters have mentioned, making sure surface water drains don't mix household sewage waste which goes for treatment and means heavy rain will overwhelm the works and lead to (heavily diluted) discharges of sewage into rivers and seas, but other solutions are needed too

(*the prices worked out per litre above were based on each person using 142 litres a day, (UK Average) but this may not be representative of what they are actually paying per litre, but done for illustrative purposed only making these numbers a rough estimate of cost per litre)

BTW - what do people pay on average for a litre of bottled water nowadays, bet it's significantly more?

Not entirely sure what you're wittering on about, but Southern Water last year charged a combined £4.42 per cubic metre of water for supply and drainage, excluding standing charges.

This year they're charging £6.54 for the same service. That's why people are angry / concerned.

 

[birthofanorange]

Go on, I‘ll bite………..how?

Old building, commercial premises below who used to own the building but when they sold off the four flats above discovered it would be far more costly trying to put in new pipes, so left it as it was.
Never had a meter, lived here nearly 40 years and owned it for 20.

 

[Birdie Boy]

Because of this thread, I checked ours, my wife deals with all bills. They have upped ours from £34 pm to £45 and then to £57 in the last year! They estimate we use £1.21 per day (254L per day) with a household of 5 and about to go to 3, so will go down. Last years bill was £419, so why do they need £684? I am in credit for £448. I am presuming that we pay monthly and they take the yearly amount out on July 1st, so we are covered. It's just the unnecessary increase per month. Also, how do they know what waste water we use?