UK water companies are calling for water industry watchdogs Ofwat and the Consumer Council for Water to adopt a pragmatic approach to proposals for the introduction of social tariffs for water bills.

Water UK, the body which represents the interests of all UK water and sewerage companies at both national and international level, says that Ofwat and CCW should recognise “the clear wish of the government for the early introduction of social tariff schemes.”

The comments accompany the publication of Water Uk’s formal response to the recent Defra consultation on its proposed draft guidance to the water companies on social tariffs which closed last week.

Water UK said that the implementation of social tariffs would help all customers  by reducing the growing burden of customer debt, not just those individuals who benefit directly.

The Government’s Water for Life White Paper included a commitment to the publication of final guidance early in 2012.  Water UK said this was essential in order for companies to be able to develop proposals which could be implemented in April 2013.

Water UK says that in order for social tariffs to be most effective, they will need to be targeted well, which will require good information and is calling for greater access to “much potentially useful information” held by Government – in particular information relating to means-tested benefits or tax credits. The response says:

“We understand the sensitivities over the security of sensitive data, but we would like to explore further how water companies could make use of information held by Government so that they could effectively and efficiently provide targeted assistance to customers in need.”

Guidance on customer consultation should not be "overly-rigorous"

With regard to the requirements in Defra’s guidance on ensuring that customers’ views are taken into account in setting social tariffs, Water UK said that “an overly rigorous interpretation” would result in unnecessary cost and could delay the introduction of social tariffs. The degree and extent of consultation with customers should be proportionate to the scale of the social tariff and the cross-subsidies involved.

Finally, Water UK are also caling for any cross-subsidies which will be needed to finance social tariffs to be restricted to household customers in order to ensure a level playing field in the competitive non-household (i.e. business customers) market.

Last week shadow water minister Gavin Shuker MP described making water companies responsible for social tariffs as "not good enough" and that he would look into the feasibility of a national scheme to help customers in need. He commented that there was "little sign of any deep thinking on this" from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.