Environment secretary ‘furious’ about England and Wales water bills | Water industry

The secretary of the environment, Steve Reed, said that he was “furious” by an average increase of 36% of water bills in England and in Wales, but could not further exclude increases in inflation higher in the future to repair the broken water sector.

Reed said he hoped that the reform of the “root and branch” of industry would lead to billions of pounds more investment, which would mean that companies should “never” increase bills in the way last year.

However, Laura Kuensberg of the BBC, which he would even allow invoices to increase invoices even more, because many have already asked, he said that the decision would be up to regulators.

“I am furious at the increase in the bill that we saw last year,” he said. “They arrived because of 14 years of failures under the previous government. They could have intervened and ensure that this investment to repair the broken sewer pipes had entered. They did not do it.

“The fact is that you can learn from the past to improve the future. If you see a crack in the wall of your house and leave it for 10 years, it becomes much more expensive to repair. This is what happened with our water pipes. Invoice invoices were made to pay the price of failure.

“I am furious about it.

Ministers will announce this week a consultation on the creation of a new water regulator, with a government -commissioning review which should confirm on Monday that Ofwat, the watchdog that polishes the amount of water that companies can charge for services, will be deleted.

“A key element of this will be that you will force the water companies to modernize the pipes so that they do not collapse since you need enormous bills of invoice to put them back in a decent state,” said Reed.

“If we can do things well, we will do things well, you have a lot [more] Level model for the way Bills will increase, more more massive Bill shocks, as we did at the end of last year. »»

Critics claim that Ofwat has chaired an underinvestment cultivation in water infrastructure and the financial mismanagement of water companies since its creation in 1989. Thames Water, the most disturbing case for the government and the largest water company in the United Kingdom, is responsible for 20 billion pounds Sterling and the fight against the fact of no longer sinking.

Earlier, Reed told Sky News on Sunday morning with the Trevor Phillips program that households expected “a small regular increase” water bills rather than massive hikes. “The bills must be as low as possible,” he said.

There had to be “an increased invoice increases” to guarantee “appropriate investment levels,” he said, adding: “A small regular increase in invoices are what people are waiting for. This is what is happening in most of the invoices I pay this year. ”

Industry leaders have long complained about a lack of consistency in water regulation, various regulators and agencies doubling the fields of investigation. This has made it difficult to have timely decisions, allowing surveys to lie down rather than prevent or respond to environmental damage and pollution.

Reed said he was “scandalous” that Southern Water’s Managing Director, Lawrence Gosden, received a salary increase that almost doubled his income, adding that he should have refused him.

“Confidence between customers and water companies is the lowest end, and by paying for their senior executives of this kind, what message does their customers send?” He added. “I really urged them to think very, very, very carefully.”

He said that he would resign as an environment secretary if the government did not lack half of wastewater pollution in rivers by 2030. “Politicians come to say that we are going to do things. Of course, our work should be at stake if we do not do it.”

Nigel Farage told the BBC that the water industry was in a “gag hell” before adding that the government should not bail out investors if the water companies have collapsed, even if the United Kingdom reform policy consists in bringing 50% of the sector under the control of the State.

Reed argued that nationalization would cost “more than 100 billion pounds sterling”, diverting the resources of the NHS and taking years during which pollution would get worse, although this is strongly disputed by academics and activists.

Farage said it would cost “much less” than 50 billion pounds sterling if the good deal was concluded. “This is the thought of the public sector, we need innovation in the private sector,” he added, although industry is currently led by the private sector.

Ed Davey, the liberal democratic chief, called for a model of public benefits to restructure the water industry, with a new regulator to replace Offat. He told the BBC that the private capital model brought by the Conservatives had failed but that nationalization would not work either.

Kevin Hollinrake, the secretary of ghost communities, said that he was not opposed to the new regulation of the water industry, but that he was concerned about the fact that “could well mix bridge chjets on the Titanic”.