The petition of residents of the constituency of Rother Valley
Declares that Yorkshire Water should cancel their retrospective charge to residents of £46.65 which was not included in their last Annual Bill for April 2024-March 2025; further that in mistakenly not including this charge, Yorkshire Water has put residents under further stress during a cost-of-living crisis; further that such a mistake is particularly frustrating for residents given Yorkshire Water’s failure to properly invest in upgrading infrastructure.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Government to take into account the concerns of petitioners and take immediate action to stop Yorkshire Water retrospectively charging residents £46.65.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Jake Richards, Official Report, 2 April 2025; Vol. 765, c. 390.]
[P003058]
Observations from the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Emma Hardy):
The Government and Ofwat recognise that billing errors can cause significant inconvenience and stress, and we are grateful to the hon. Member for raising this issue on behalf of his constituents. Customers should be billed correctly and unexpected charges that are outside of customers’ control may not be budgeted for, especially in the context of bill increases. We expect companies to deliver a better standard of service and appreciate that this is a frustrating situation. However, where genuine errors have occurred, companies are within their rights to correct them.
Nevertheless, companies are subject to Ofwat’s performance commitments, which provide financial and reputational incentives for delivery against the standards of customer service that they are expected to attain. The “customer measure of experience” (C-MeX) performance commitment is designed to incentivise companies to provide an excellent customer experience for residential (household) customers, including issues such as minimising incorrect billing. Where performance commitments are not met, companies must reimburse customers through lower water bills—known as “underperformance payments”—in the next financial year.
Furthermore, if incorrect billing does place customers in financial hardship, all water companies have measures in place for people who struggle to pay for their water and wastewater services. These include:
Bill discount schemes such as WaterSure and social tariffs;
Actively offering payment breaks or payment holidays;
Adjusting payment plans urgently to help with sudden changes in household finances;
Simplifying the processes for customers to get extra assistance; and
Helping customers get advice on benefits and managing debts, particularly for customers who have not been in financial difficulties before.
We expect water companies to engage with their customers proactively to ensure they know what support schemes are available and how to use them if they need help. We hope this response provides reassurance that companies are strongly incentivised to prevent billing issues and to provide vital support to customers who need it.