‘We know that bill rises will be difficult for some of our customers’
Water bills are set to rise(Image: Getty)
Yorkshire Water has confirmed that average household water bills in the Yorkshire region are set to increase by 5.6% in April. The utilities company said this will help to ‘fund an £8.3bn investment programme, which will improve customer service and environmental outcomes across the region.’
The increase was agreed by Ofwat in December 2024 and sits above inflation. Yorkshire Water said that some bills may rise by different amounts, depending on customer’s specific charges.
The increase will enable them to continue delivering ‘a wide range of infrastructure projects, totalling £1.1bn between April 2026 and April 2027’. This includes:
- Progressing a £38m plan for reducing leakage across the region
- Replacing 353km of mains throughout Yorkshire, to reduce bursts and instances of water supply disruptions
- Exchanging a further 350,000 smart meters to help customers save water and reduce their bills
- Building more resilience into the clean water network with infrastructure upgrades – for example, a £22m upgrade at Ingbirchworth water treatment site
- Continuing a £1.5bn investment to reduce discharges into watercourses from more than 450 storm overflows across Yorkshire
- Starting a number of projects to reduce the amount of phosphorous entering watercourses, including multimillion pound projects at Haxby Walbutts wastewater treatment works and Naburn wastewater treatment works in the spring
Yorkshire Water also said that between 2025 and 2030, they will be investing the equivalent of around £3,600 for every household in the region to improve infrastructure and customer service.
Matt Pinder, customer director at Yorkshire Water, said: “This is our largest ever investment package – designed to drive significant progress in areas we know are important to our customers. We’ve already delivered a huge number of infrastructure projects – over 200 in 2025 – and it’s important that we keep that momentum going over the next year, and beyond.
“The money we collect from customer bills, alongside shareholder investment and borrowing, will be spent on a wide variety of improvements across the region – from improvements to storm overflows to mains replacements and bringing in new water resources – alongside delivering a better service for our customers.”
Matt added: “Of course, we know that bill rises will be difficult for some of our customers. Over the five years, we’ll be providing £375m in financial support to 345,000 customers through a range of different schemes – I would encourage anyone who is struggling financially to contact us to discuss the options available to them.” There are two bill reduction schemes, Water Support and Water Sure, and three schemes to support customers with water bill debts: Resolve, Community Trust, and Direct Support.
Customers can receive advice about being placed on a water meter, and whether this would reduce their bill. Customers can find details of financial support schemes and eligibility at www.yorkshirewater.com/bill-account/help-paying-your-bill/ or by contacting 03451299299.
Over the last 12 months, Yorkshire Water said they had achieved significant improvements, which include:
- replacing over 120km of mains across the region – estimated to be saving 1.24 million litres every day in leakage
- created 30,500m3 of extra storage in the wastewater network, creating capacity to reduce the likelihood of storm overflow discharges
- drilled new boreholes in East Ness and Brayton Barff to unlock underground water sources
- created wetlands at South Elmsall and Dearne Reach to support wastewater treatment
- Installed more than 100,000 smart meters
- Employed an additional 900 members of staff to improve customer service and support the delivery of the entire investment programme
Just last month, Yorkshire Water announced it was ending its hosepipe ban which lasted five months. The company says the hosepipe ban helped save around 3.1 billion litres of water, which is equivalent to Hull’s average usage over 36 days.