Portsmouth Water will continue to provide industry-leading levels of service to customers at the same time as having the lowest average water bills in England and Wales.

For 2022/23, the company will be increasing its bills by an average of 6.1% (effective from 1 July). This means our typical annual household water bill will be £109 – considerably lower than any other water company, with the average household water bill for England and Wales being £200.

Portsmouth Water CEO Bob Taylor stated: “We fully recognise that this is a large increase driven mainly by current high levels of inflation and we have worked hard to keep the increase in our bills to a minimum. Despite the increase, we will still be delivering the lowest water bills in England and Wales by some margin - equivalent to a cost of around 30p a day for delivering industry leading customer service aligned with high quality, safe and secure drinking water each and every day.

“The increase is also needed to enable us to further enhance our service to customers and allow us to continue investing in our assets, such as our network of water pipes and treatment works. 2022 will see over £23 million invested in improving our infrastructure, so we can continue to deliver the industry leading performance that our customers have come to expect. The £23 million is part of a 5-year £83 million investment programme, directly benefitting customers. Our flagship Havant Thicket Reservoir project will continue to be funded by Southern Water and will not be paid for by Portsmouth Water customers as part of this price increase.”

Mr Taylor added: “We are very mindful of the current economic pressures on household incomes, especially for the more vulnerable members of our society. As a result, we will be continuing to offer strong support to our customers who are struggling to pay, asking them to contact us at the earliest opportunity so we can advise and help wherever we can. This support includes offering payment holidays, affordable instalment plans and other forms of tailored support.”

“In 2016, we introduced our ‘Helping Hand Tariff’, which is specifically designed to help households with an overall income lower than the Government’s low-income threshold (currently £17,005). This caps the water bill at our minimum charge (from 1st July this will be £82.73 for the year). So far, more than 9,000 customers have taken advantage of this tariff.”

As well as delivering this increased investment we will also be:
<ul>
 	<li>Maintaining our industry-leading performance in leakage reduction, by developing and adopting leading edge techniques, ensuring we will meet our long-term target of a further 15% reduction by 2024/25.</li>
 	<li>Promoting biodiversity on our landholdings and within the wider environment through the delivery of our Catchment Management Plan where we work with local farmers and landowners to prevent potential water quality problems such as nitrate pollution at source rather than through removal via often expensive water treatment solutions.</li>
 	<li>Continuing to promote household water efficiency and encouraging meters for those customers who will benefit financially or those who wish to learn more about their own water usage patterns to become more water efficient.</li>
 	<li>Ensuring customers who need special help when we experience operational challenges are listed on our Priority Services Register. We currently have over 30,000 customers on our register which enables us to prioritise help for them in an emergency.</li>
 	<li>Continuing the development of Havant Thicket Winter Storage Reservoir – a £130 million investment. The reservoir, which is being funded by Southern Water, is an environmentally driven project which, as well as securing vital water resources for the South East, will help protect world-renowned chalk streams, the River Test and the River Itchen, in Hampshire through reduced abstraction especially during dry periods.</li>
</ul>