Water Bills

Baroness Pinnock Excerpts

Thursday 9th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

Clearly, it is important that we protect the most vulnerable. We expect water companies to put robust support in place to address water poverty. My noble friend mentioned WaterSure, but there are options such as payment breaks, social tariffs and debt management support. It is important that water companies work with vulnerable customers to ensure that they know all the options available to them. The Consumer Council for Water does important work, so I think it is important that the suggestions it made are looked at seriously.

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords, following on from the answers that the Minister has just given—and I have relevant interests to declare in the register—all water companies have a variety of schemes to support customers who are in water poverty. The issue for me is that not all of them are as generous as they ought to be. Is the Minister prepared to speak to water companies to ensure that a greater proportion of their profits is focused on supporting households in water poverty so that, across the country, every customer in water poverty has access to a well-funded scheme?

[Baroness Hayman of Ullock (Lab)]

It is important that every water company does everything it can to support vulnerable customers. Like all businesses, some are better than others. We are working with water companies to try to ensure that they all come up to the same high standards that we expect. We know that some companies have committed to supplement support with contributions from shareholders’ profits between 2025 and 2030. Ideally, it would be good if all companies were prepared to do that.