Many Mid- and East Devon residents are struggling with huge water bill increases, Richard Foord MP tells Parliament

Residents across Mid- and East Devon are struggling to pay enormous new water bills.  The hiked charges are far in excess of the average rise recommended by Ofwat, the MP for Honiton & Sidmouth told representatives in Parliament on Tuesday.

Richard Foord informed MPs that some Devon residents who are seriously ill, as well as others who are not connected to South West Water’s sewers have been hit with huge increases.

He said: “Ofwat ruled last December that bills can rise by 36 per cent on average over five years, before inflation.”

But residents across the Honiton & Sidmouth constituency tell a different story.

Mr Foord described the situation of an Aylesbeare resident. Even though he is not connected to South West Water’s sewerage system, his annual bill is now £761, up from £486 last year; a jump of over 56 per cent.

“As the resident has cancer and weakened immunity, to protect himself he boils his water before drinking it, because he is conscious that South West Water had an outbreak of the cryptosporidium parasite last year.”

Another resident from Sidmouth contacted Richard “in disbelief” about her bill. Her ten instalments per year are increasing from £49 to £70.

When she raised concerns, a customer service agent offered what sounded like a helping hand: to reduce the instalments to £58.60.

She later worked out that this was because the instalments would be spread over twelve months rather than ten. “It was a cloak for no bill reduction whatsoever,” emphasised Mr Foord.

Residents are also facing lengthy waits to talk to customer services representatives.

South West Water’s automated voice service has been telling anxious residents when they call, that they’re in a queue of over 100 people, waiting for advice on their much-increased charges.

Constituents have informed Mr Foord that they have been 178th in the queue, 106th, 94th, and on a quieter day, 87th and 74th – while waiting to speak to someone from the company.

Mr Foord added: “That is absolutely crazy, from a water company hiking people’s bills in some instances by 56%.

“South West Water is proposing to spend £3.2 billion on infrastructure improvements, but the crying shame is that it has failed to invest in its infrastructure in years gone by.

"… since privatisation, South West Water has paid out more than £4.5 billion in shareholder dividends.

“This week, we have learned that the PR side of the business is going to be joined by none other than the former MP for East Devon, Simon Jupp. He is going to speak for South West Water, having attacked it while he was a Member of Parliament.”