Water bills

Free water refill points are to be introduced in 30 Scottish towns and cities over the next two years to encourage people to top up refillable bottles.

Three water companies have been told by the Consumer Council for Water to improve customer service following a high number of complaints.  The industry watchdog has highlighted Bristol Water, Southern Water and Surrey-based SES Water as the worst performers in its latest annual report into household complaints to water firms. These companies – covering a combined 3.5 million households – will be required to report back to the watchdog to outline what steps they have taken to improve service. In total, households in England and Wales made more than 2.1 million calls to water firms to resolve problems between April 2017 and March 2018 – down 17% on the previous year. Yet nine out of 21 water companies saw an increase in the number of calls. The watchdog also highlighted a sharp rise in calls on household water suppliers, following the 'Beast from the East' as more than 200,000 people were left without running water earlier this year. Though you can't switch your water to cut costs, there are other ways to save – see Cut Your Water Bills for more.

Water regulator Ofwat has announced a review of the supply issues experienced by customers during the recent severe weather conditions.

The average water and sewerage bill in England and Wales is set to rise by £9 to £405 a year.

The rate at which household bills and expenses are increasing has slowed in the last month, according to the latest MSE Bills Tracker figures, with average costs up 2% over the past 12 months.

Customer complaints have increased at almost half of all water suppliers serving England and Wales, with gripes over billing and charges accounted for over 60% of all complaints across the industry, according to a consumer body.

Water bills are set to increase by an average of £2 across England and Wales in 2016-17, water companies have announced.

George Osborne has pledged to save families up to £470 a year by boosting competition and cutting red tape in areas such as banking, utilities and mobile phones.

What would you tweak about the UK? Your first instinct may be 'a flat rate of income tax', 'independence for Cornwall', or 'free university education for all'. Yet I'm not talking about big contentious change – this is about quick fixes for life glitches.