HC Deb 28 October 1997 vol 299 cc804-5W
Mr. Webb

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what estimate he has made of the real level of average household bills for water and sewerage in Great Britain as a whole and for each region of Great Britain in each year since 1978. [12831]

Angela Eagle

No figures are available for the average unmeasured household bill for water and sewerage in Great Britain as a whole. No fully valid comparison is possible between water services bills in England and Wales and in Scotland, where the administrative and funding arrangements for water services have been and are quite different.

I am advised by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland that in Scotland the real levels of average water and sewerage charges for the years 1989–90 to 1996–97 are as given in the following list. Information is not yet available for the current year, or for the period prior to 1989–90.

Scotland: real levels of average water and sewerage charges to households (at 1997–98 prices)

  • 1989–90: £90.21
  • 1990–91: £89.68
  • 1991–92: £100.40
  • 1992–93: £106.14
  • 1993–94: £106.21
  • 1994–95: £109.57
  • 1995–96: £112.91
  • 1996–97: £120.75

In England and Wales the real levels of average unmeasured household water and sewerage charges for the years 1978–79 to 1997–98 are as given in the following table.

(£)
1998–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98
South West 191.08 204.09 213.17 227.22 258.66 294.11 331.35 339.98 343.96 351.92
Thames 141.52 141.76 146.73 153.12 159.20 167.79 176.85 184.42 188.45 191.37
Wessex 186.78 193.49 199.68 208.95 216.62 230.01 244.20 248.96 251.02 256.12
Yorkshire 156.73 171.72 176.37 183.24 187.78 196.61 209.23 218.04 223.84 222.88
England and Wales 159.51 166.76 174.38 183.83 192.92 203.22 215.97 222.16 226.87 230.37

1. The table shows the average household bills, for those charged on an unmeasured basis only, of customers of the water and sewerage companies in England and Wales, and, before privatisation, of customers of the regional water authorities.

2. Charges before and after privatisation in 1989 are not strictly comparable. In particular regional water authorities charged for some services that were not transferred to the privatised water companies.