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

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to freeze water bills.

Customer bill levels have remained stable in real terms over the last two decades. The average household bill is £448 in 2023-24, that is £1.23 a day for high quality drinking water supplied to homes and sewage being removed.

Ofwat, as the independent economic regulator, sets the bill level. Ofwat must ensure that water companies are meeting government priorities and legal obligations and that they balance the interests of the consumers too, including affordability.

Government is very mindful that consumers are concerned about their bills and we carefully assess bill impacts through our policy development process. For example, our Storm Overflows Plan balances ambition and pace to clean up our water and protect the environment with impact on consumer bills. Our Plan will see £56 billion capital investment by 2050, with an estimated £12 average increase in customer water bills between 2025 and 2030. We ruled out options adding £122 to household bills per year for the same period.