Citizens Advice response to CCW’s independent review of affordability support for financially vulnerable water customers in England and Wales
Citizens Advice response to CCW’s independent review of affordability support for financially vulnerable water customers in England and Wales
Water is an essential service and the pandemic is likely to make affordability challenges greater for many. We have estimated that 6 million UK adults have fallen behind on at least one household bill during the pandemic and half of these have fallen behind on water bills.
We recognise there is a range of affordability support for water customers by their providers, but it isn’t working well enough. WaterSure and social tariff schemes for water reach only 260,000 households, whereas in energy the Warm Home Discount scheme reaches around 2.2 million households. The system for accessing support is complicated and inefficient, with different eligibility for social tariffs at different companies and application processes that can be off putting for the people who need support most.
We would like to see a simpler customer journey for accessing support across all essential services. As in energy, we think there is scope for greater use of data matching to provide support for people struggling to pay water bills.
We also note that for water consumers with water meters, reducing consumption will also play a role in improving affordability, as well as meeting other objectives on sustainability and the net zero transition. Ongoing support and advice can help people with meters continue to save water, and protection from high costs for people with water meters who are unable to reduce their usage is vital.