Water

The average water and sewerage bill in England and Wales is set to rise by £8 to £415 a year from 1 April.

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.

United Utilities has called off its planned hosepipe ban, which was due to affect millions of customers in the north west of England this weekend.

North west of England water supplier United Utilities has announced that a hosepipe ban will start on Sunday 5 August for its seven million customers.

Four UK airports are in the process of installing free drinking water fountains in their departure lounges following a MoneySavingExpert campaign, and a further two are considering it. But half of UK international airports still don't offer free water fountains to passengers.

Hundreds of thousands of customers ‘were badly let down' by their water supplier when the Beast from the East struck earlier this year.

Thames Water is to pay £120 million back to customers following an investigation by regulator Ofwat which found the company hasn't done enough to cut the amount of leaks.

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

Household bills and expenses are rising slower than overall inflation, this month's MSE Bills Tracker shows – but don't rest on your laurels as it's likely you could still make big savings.

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