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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that Thames Water will increase its prices, and what steps they are taking to support customers.

For too long, investment has not kept pace with the challenges of an ageing infrastructure system, a rapidly growing population and climate change. Unfortunately, bills will therefore now need to rise to invest in our crumbling infrastructure and deliver cleaner waterways.

Ofwat published their final determinations for Price Review 2024 on 19 December, which sets company expenditure and customer bills for 2025-2030. This will deliver substantial, lasting, improvements for customers and the environment through a £104 billion upgrade for the water sector.

All water companies offer affordability support through WaterSure and social tariff schemes to help reduce bills for households who struggle to pay their bills in full. Water companies also offer a range of financial support measures to assist households to better manage their budgets and provide flexible payments including payment holidays, payment matching, benefit entitlement checks and money/debt advice referral arrangements.

Water companies should continue to actively engage with households and inform them of support measures they offer. The Consumer Council for Water works with water companies and Defra to monitor the uptake of affordability measures, and the Government continues to explore options to improve the affordability of water bills.