Portsmouth Water’s bills remain the lowest in England and Wales

Portsmouth Water continues to maintain its position of delivering the lowest water bills in England and Wales but at the same time providing industry leading levels of service to customers. CEO Bob Taylor stated ‘we are determined to continue to deliver a very high-quality water service, providing a safe, secure and reliable supply of high-quality drinking water to our customers which at the same time represents excellent value for money’.

‘For 2019/20, we have limited any increase to our bills to 2.7% (effective from 1 July). This means our average household water bill will be £106 – still considerably lower than any other water company with the average household water bill for England and Wales being £193’.

Despite delivering the lowest water bills in England and Wales, the Company is mindful of the current economic pressures on family incomes, especially for the more vulnerable members of our society. So, in 2016 we introduced our ‘Helping Hand Tariff’, which is specifically designed to help households with an overall income lower than Government’s low-income threshold (currently £16,105). This caps the water bill at our minimum charge (from 1st July this will be £81.14). So far, more than 6,000 customer have taken advantage of this tariff.

Our business plan for 2020 to 2025 will continue our investment and ambition to keep bills as low as possible. From 2020, our bills will reduce to an average of £97 per year, with a Helping Hand tariff of £75.

Even with the lowest charges in England and Wales, we are fully committed to further enhancing our service, looking after our vulnerable customers and protecting the environment. Our business plan includes construction of a new major water resource – a reservoir at Havant Thicket. This reservoir will help us share our water resources with other water companies in the water-stressed South East region.