Water Price inflation

[rov1200]

Is there a link between the increase in food prices (said to be a 10% increase) , the price of fuel and power (about 50%) and the intended increase in water prices? There is no shortage of water in the UK!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7552564.st m

[stokemaveric]

you can blame thatcher for the rise in all privateised utility bills,the moment they went private the fat cat owners and shareholders wanted to make as much money as possible............at the expense of the customer.............

[Ethel]

At times there is a shortage of water in parts of the UK. All those reservoirs have to be kept topped up by pumping water.

It is processed and delivered to our homes. All those water pipes have to be maintained (hopefully).

You could stop paying water rates and survive with a tank in your garden, I suppose.

The water rates also cover the sewage removal and process. You could have a cess pit.

[abstibus]

The main link is greed. See my (unanswered) post on Business re utilities companies now owned by investment banks. Bonuses, anyone?

[jno]

there is a link between power and food. Because the price of oil is going up (though it has fallen back a bit recently) the Americans are promoting biofuel - petrol made from corn. So they've been fast turning their fields over to corn for fuel, not grain for humans. Add in the droughts in Australia (one of the world's biggest wheat producers) and you get a world shortage of food, which drives prices up.

As for water, that's free - it falls from the sky. There's only so much of it; it gets used or drunk, it returns to the land and sea, evaporates and falls again as rain. It's processing and delivering it (and paying sharehoders) that costs money.

[rov1200]

Quite right Jno looks like another stitch up. All the water companies are doing is jumping on the bandwaggon of overall higher living costs to stick the oar in. The comment about privatisation also rings true especially as most of these companies are foreign owned and could not care a cuss about how we feel.

[anotheoldgit]

It's time we had two standards of water. One that has been treated so that it is fit to drink, and another which hasn't been through such a thorough treatment, but is clean enough for washing, flushing, hosing etc. After all one would not use bottled water for these tasks.

Incidently when are Severn Trent Water customers going to receive their rebate?

[rov1200]

Quite agree about dual supplies but would require a lot of extra pipework. I believe there are systems out there that capture your rainwater and put it in a large vessel below ground level. When required this is pumped up into the house.