Anglian Water has unveiled a huge investment programme for the year ahead, worth £384 million, while customer bills will remain broadly flat with an increase of less than a penny a day for the coming year.

This is the fourth year of Anglian Water’s AMP6 £5 billion commitment to 2020, which will be paid for by average bills of just £1.17 per day. The company has kept this year’s increase to 0.7%, well below the level of inflation (CPI 2.8% in November 2017 when the following year’s bills are calculated). In the East of England, 85 per cent of homes now have a meter.

Anglian Water has the best leakage record in the industry – around half the national average of other water companies. The firm fields a 300-strong leakage team, working on projects including an innovative pressure management scheme that dramatically reduces the number of bursts and drones with thermal imaging cameras finding leaks from the air.

Some of the schemes over the next 12 months will include:

• £22 million to keep leakage levels at industry-leading lows. By 2020 Anglian will have invested an additional £60 million on leakage, bringing the five-year total spent on fighting leaks to £128 million.
• The completion of a £34 million scheme at Heigham Water Treatment works in Norwich to protect the environment along the River Wensum and secure supplies for the growing city of Norwich.
• £100 million improving, maintaining and refurbishing hundreds of water treatment works and water recycling centres across its vast estate.
• £48 million maintaining, refurbishing and renewing parts of the 37,000km water pipe network.
• £10 million maintaining, refurbishing and replacing parts of the 70,000km sewer network.
• £23 million to extend and upgrade water recycling centres to accommodate the growing population in the region. The water recycling centres will generate enough clean energy next year to fuel 40,000 homes.
• £15 million keeping sewers clear of fatbergs and wipes.
• £16 million to connect hundreds more rural homes to the mains sewerage network for the first time, totalling £70 million by 2020.
• £8 million to reduce flooding from sewers as part of a £45 million focus that will protect hundreds of properties from flooding by 2020. £1.5 million will also be put up for matched funding to get more partner flood schemes off the ground.
• £1million will be invested in innovation. This will be the second year of Anglian Water’s Smarter Drop initiative, aiming to create the water network of the future. The initiative will centre on Newmarket, and will become Anglian Water’s ‘Shop Window’ for pioneering new technology before rolling it out to the wider region.
• Over £6.5 million will be spent fitting free water meters, replacing old ones, and offering free water saving devices to help customers become more water efficient.