Bristol proposes flat bills to 2025

Bristol Water has proposed keeping customer bills largely flat in 2020-25 in its draft PR19 business plan, which it published last week for stakeholder consultation.

The company’s suggested course of action is for a set of improvements which will add £26 to the average household bill, offset by efficiency savings of £30. This means the average post-inflation bill will go from the £192 forecast for 2020 to £209 in 2025 (or £188 before inflation). Bristol also provides a less expensive option for slower improvement and a more expensive option for faster improvement to give customers an idea of the range of options still available to them.

The suggested course of action follows extensive customer and stakeholder consultation. It identifies five customer priorities: an affordable bill; keeping the water flowing; helping to improve the community; saving water before developing new supplies; and the best possible experience every time. It distills these into four outcomes: excellent customer experiences; community and environmental resilience; safe and reliable supply; and corporate and financial resilience.

It seeks feedback on its plan throughout April and May before final version is due for submission to Ofwat in September.