THE King’s Speech, read out on behalf of the Labour Government at the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday 17 July to set out it plans included more than 35 draft and new bills.
Water (Special Measures) Bill
One of the new bills is the Water (Special Measures) Bill to strengthen regulation of the water sector. It includes new powers for the regulator Ofwat to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met and increase accountability for water executives.
The Bill follows new measures set out by Secretary of State for Environment Food and Rural Affairs Steve Reed in his first week to cut sewage dumping and attract investment to upgrade infrastructure.
These measures include:
- Funding for vital infrastructure investment to be ringfenced so that it is only spent on upgrades benefiting customers and the environment, and when it goes unspent it is returned to customers
- Water companies to place customers and the environment at the heart of their objectives in their company rules
- Proposals to double compensation for households and businesses when basic water services are affected, for example, if a ‘boil water notice’ is implemented
- Customers will be able to hold water company bosses to account through new customer panels with powers to summon board members for questioning to make sure they are meeting customer obligations
Mr Reed said:
We will never look the other way while water companies pump record levels of sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas.
This Bill delivers on our manifesto commitment to put water companies under tough special measures and begin the work of cleaning up our waterways.
As an immediate step, this government will strengthen regulation to reverse the tide on the unacceptable destruction of our waterways, ensuring water companies deliver for customers and the environment and attract private-sector investment to upgrade our crumbling infrastructure.
Change will take time. The Government will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform our water industry and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.
“Ambitious action needed”
The day after the King’s Speech, representatives from our national body The Rivers Trust and South East Rivers Trust met Mr Reed at a local wetland project it is managing. They were joined by colleagues from the Environment Agency and Defra.
On its X account, the Rivers Trusts said it is glad to see the Government acknowledging the importance of improving water quality with plans for water industry reform. However, it cited “ambitious action is needed on agricultural pollution, road run-off & over-abstraction too”.
Price Review – PR24
But paying for reform is where many customers will have concerns.
Mr Reed’s meeting with water companies followed Ofwat’s draft response to water company spending and its announcement that water bills in England and Wales are to rise by 21%, or £19 per year on average until 2030, in order to pay for improvements. This is a third less than requested by water companies.
For our region, this could be an average of a £64 increase from March 2025 for the following five years.
Ofwat’s 2024 Price Review is still open for consultation from customers, stakeholders and water companies before noon on 28 August 2024.
More info:
deframedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/07/18/government-introduces-new-bill-to-clean-up-water-sector/
gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-first-steps-to-reform-water-sector
ofwat.gov.uk/pr24-draft-determinations-press-notice/
bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4ng85nmdg3o