Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Highgate)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle excessive household water bills based on rateable values.
Answered by Emma Hardy - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government has set out in the Water White Paper a commitment to accelerate the smart meter rollout. This includes maximising cost savings to customers by moving customers away from a ratable value to a smart metered charge. Smart meters also provide data to increase leakage identification and reduction and provide customers with insights into their water usage.
Ofwat has also announced a competition, closing in March, as part of its £25 million Water Efficiency Lab to enable better data insights on water usage for customers, this includes those customers who cannot have a meter fitted and are reliant on ratable values.