SOUTH WEST WATER AND SEWERAGE CHARGES

That this House notes with concern that water bills in the far South West will increase by up to a further 8.1 per cent. as a result of Ofwat's recent setting of water bills for 2011-12; welcomes the expansion of the Watersure initiative but regrets that fewer than 9,000 South West households are eligible for the scheme; and urges the Government to prove that it is better than the previous 1979-97 administration that privatised the water industry, and the 1997-2010 administration which ignored the problem during 13 years of year-on-year price rises, and address the regional discrepancies that result in South West Water customers in Devon and Cornwall continuing to pay the highest water and sewerage charges in the country as they have done every year since the industry was transferred from a public to a private monopoly.