UK households to be paid up to £2,000 for water company failures
The government has announced that water companies will increase compensation payments to customers by up to tenfold from today, ensuring that people in the UK are fairly compensated for poor service from their water companies.
Following this change, UK customers will automatically receive more money for issues such as low water pressure and cancelled appointments.
Previously, if a UK household experienced consistent low water pressure, they would only receive £25 in compensation. Under the new rules effective from Wednesday 2 July, the same customers are automatically eligible for up to £250 in compensation.
For severe issues such as flooding, customer compensation has doubled from £1,000 to up to £2,000.
No action is needed on the part of households, the government said, as customers who are eligible for this compensation will have the appropriate amount automatically credited to their accounts.
The government is also working with water companies to expand the list of circumstances that will trigger automatic compensation payments. Coming into force later this year, a new rule will require water companies to compensate UK households whenever they ask them to boil their water due to contaminated supply.
Changes to compensation for water service failures come as part of the government’s action to improve the service delivery of the water sector, encompassing everything from cracking down on polluting water companies and their bosses, prosecuting criminal investigations into sewage pollution, and upgrading infrastructure to improve the reliability of national water and sewage networks.
“Too many water companies are letting down their customers – with leaking pipes, poor water supply and low water pressure,” said Environment Secretary Steve Reed.
“The Government is holding water companies to account by making them put money back into people’s pockets when they fail their customers.”
