Affinity Water has accepted Ofwat’s Final Determination of price controls, published on 12 December 2014.

The company said it will now move forward in delivering its Business Plan commitments, which were shaped by over 12,500 customer responses following an extensive consultation last year.

Between 2015 and 2020 Affinity Water will decrease bills in real terms by 5% and in the same period will be investing more than £500 million in local communities to improve water infrastructure and ensure a secure long term high quality supply.

Affinity Water charges in its Central Region will see an average annual household bill of £172 a year in 2015/16, an increase of £1.50 a year over the 2014/15 average annual household bill. Charges in its East Region will see the average annual household bill falling by nearly £7 in 2015/2016 to an average of £177 a year, while in its Southeast Region the average annual household bill will fall by £1.50 in 2015/2016 to an average of £221 a year. The new charges will take effect from 1 April.

Vincent Muldoon, Director of Customer Relations said:

“We will continue to help our customers on low incomes with tariffs providing either a reduced fixed rate bill or a capped bill and over 21,000 customers have already taken advantage of this.

 “We will provide good value for money for customers by making additional efficiency savings and further reducing leakage. Our Water Saving Programme will also help us conserve scarce resources and leave more water in the environment.”

The Water Saving Programme will encourage the more efficient use of water and the amount of water taken from the environment will be cut by 42 million litres per day by 2020. Leakage will also be reduced over the next five years by a further 14%, which will save more than 27 million litres per day.

Affinity Water is a water only company and does not provide a sewerage service for which charges are announced separately.