People should be adequately warned and adequately compensated. Sewer flooding is a key issue. There are a couple of points on the south coast where 20 houses suffer from sewer flooding every 1-2 years, and it takes millions of pounds to solve the problem. We still have a rateable system from the 1970 s that has very little relation to fairness. My Committee believes metering, with the appropriate tariffs in place, is fairer.
Water companies approach to handling debt varies wildly.
Some companies, like South East Water, are very fair while others exercise a baseball bat philosophy. The present position for the consumer is very unsatisfactory. The Regulator s primary duty is to ensure water companies have sufficient resources. The consumer remit is much smaller, and CSCs have no powers whatsoever. Customers have little or no say on what they pay or what it s spent on.