Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking with Ofwat to help ensure transparent pricing practices from water companies.

Last week the Government published its Water White Paper which commits to measures to increase the transparency of pricing practices including reviewing tariff structures and enabling smart metering. Alongside this, Government will create a stable, predictable regulatory environment that lowers financing costs, streamlining planning and regulation to cut overheads, and enabling more efficient solutions, such as smart metering.

Water companies have committed to rolling out smart meters across 50% of homes and businesses by 2030. Government is working with Ofwat to ensure, via a Smart Metering Delivery Board, that customers get transparent information from meters on how they are being charged.