HC Deb 15 December 1998 vol 322 cc427-9W
Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will estimate(a) the number of one and two person households which would benefit from water metering and (b) the amounts of saving forgone by them in each of the past two years, for the current year and for next year, distinguishing between (i) pensioner households and (ii) households including a person on income support or housing benefit. [63242]

Mr. Meale

The following estimates are taken from the report "Incidence Effects of Charging for Domestic Water and Sewerage Services" published by my Department in July 1998. This reported the results of modelling work undertaken on behalf of the Department by Maxwell Stamp Plc. Estimates were produced as percentages rather than numbers in groups.

(a) Under the current tariffs of water undertakers, 66 per cent. of single person households, 31 per cent. of couples with no children nad 38 per cent. of single parents with one child would pay less on a measured than an unmeasured basis. No breakdown has been made of these categories into pensioners and persons on income support or benefit. However, 55 per cent. of all pensioner households and 47 per cent. of all households in which one member was in receipt of income-related benefit would pay less on a measured than an unmeasured basis. These estimates assume no consequent reduction in consumption or tariff rebalancing.

Under a move to a measured basis without standing charge, those gaining would be as follows: 79 per cent. of single person households, 32 per cent. of couples with no children, 43 per cent. of single parents with one child, 63 per cent. of all pensioner households and 54 per cent. of all households in which one member was in receipt of income-related benefit.

(b) Savings figures have not been separately estimated for past or future years. Under current tariffs the distribution of savings for these groups would be as in the following table:

Percentages
Annual Gain £0–50 £50–100 More than £100
Single adults 32 21 13
Couples with no children 18 7 6
Single parents with one child 20 9 9
Pensioner households 29 16 10
Households with a recipient of income-related benefits 25 13 9

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make it his policy to require water supply companies to notify customers of the likely range of metered water charges. [63243]

Mr. Meale

The Government's view is that water undertakers should ensure that all their customers are made fully aware of all the charging options open to them without favouring one solution over another.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make it his policy to require water supply companies to install meters without charge by December 1999 to one and two person households including a person on income support or housing benefit. [63245]

Mr. Meale

The Government's policy, reflected in the Water Industry Bill, is that domestic consumers presently charged on an unmeasured basis should have the option of requesting a measured basis of charging. However, no household should be compulsorily transferred to a measured basis of charging where they are using water only for essential household use.

Mr. Peter Bottomley

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if it is his policy to allow landlords of short-term tenants to deny them the benefit of metered charges for water. [63244]

Mr. Meale

Under the present provisions of the Water Industry Act 1991, neither tenants nor any other consumers have a legal right to be charged for water on a measured basis, although water undertakers have powers to install meters and to charge any customer on a measured basis.

We propose that domestic water customers should have the right to move to a measured basis of charging for water, free of any initial costs for meter installation. Consumers benefiting from this right would include tenants who pay their own water charges. The Water Industry Bill provides that any contrary provision of any tenancy agreement which might otherwise prevent the installation of a meter is not to block the exercise of this right by tenants. However, the right would not be afforded to tenants on fixed term tenancies of less than six months. It is the Government's view that such tenants do not have a sufficiently long term interest in the basis of charging for water to warrant over-riding any provision in the tenancy agreement.