Water company licence changes to tariff basket

Two-thirds of water companies in England and Wales have now signed up to this change. This means that, from 1 April 2000, these companies will not automatically be able to recoup from all other customers any revenue they lose from reducing their charges to large users.

Large users are those using more than 250 million litres of water a year.

The latest five companies who have agreed to the licence change are: North West Water, Thames Water, Dee Valley Water, South Staffs Water and Cambridge water.

Ofwat has estimated that the impact on average bills to household customers as a result of this action has been between 0.2 and 0.5 per cent.