Isle of Wight households face having to fork out another £43 a year for water and wastewater services from April 2027 – on top of the significant bill increases Islanders are already enduring.
Southern Water customers are facing the biggest additional bill increase of any water company covered by new proposals published by regulator Ofwat.
The latest increase would see the average bill £43 higher in 2027-28 than previously determined, as Southern Water seeks additional funding for investment across its network.
By 2029-30, the additional impact is expected to be £37 a year above the amount previously determined.
It comes after Southern Water customers on the Isle of Wight were already hit with substantial increases to their water bills.
As previously reported by Island Echo, Ofwat’s December 2024 determination envisaged the average Southern Water bill reaching £642 a year by 2029-30 – 53% higher than the £420 figure at the time.
The latest £43 figure is an additional impact on top of the previously determined bill, rather than part of that original increase.
Ofwat’s new Draft Determination would allow Southern Water £687.61million of additional expenditure between 2025 and 2030, including £161.95million of additional revenue during the current price-control period.
The regulator says that, across the water sector, the extra investment is intended to safeguard services and assets, accommodate growth and address issues including so-called ‘forever chemicals’.
For Southern Water, the proposals include additional investment relating to asset health and major schemes. Ofwat also specifically identifies the Sandown Isle of Wight Water Recycling Plant among the schemes included in Southern Water’s submission.
However, Ofwat’s funding decision is separate from the planning process and does not grant planning permission for works at Sandown. Planning application 25/01619/FUL has not been approved.
The regulator has not accepted all of the additional expenditure sought by Southern Water, with some of the company’s submission rejected as either outside the scope of the process or not sufficiently evidenced.
Ofwat is also proposing safeguards aimed at ensuring customers do not pay twice for asset improvements, including the ability to claw back funding in certain circumstances.
The figures remain provisional, with Ofwat currently consulting on its Draft Determinations.
The consultation will close on 24th September, with Final Determinations expected in December. If confirmed, the impact of the additional in-period funding on customer bills would begin from April 2027.
This is getting beyond a f”cking joke now. We’re paying the highest ever amount for water but getting less of a service. I reported a mains leak a couple of weeks ago and after a lot of back and forth they said they were going to fix it but not until the following day, It was gushing about 60-70 liters a minute. Absolute scumbags.
Southern Water are taking the p1ss (and the poo) and dumping it on our beaches and making us pay more for the pleasure. And those pansies at the council couldn’t even get it together to pass a vote of no confidence.
Scandalous, so we pay for their fcuk ups!
let’s ask Southern water for a “FULL” disclosure of all the grants received this year and for 27 they fund diddly squat we taxpayers do thru the grants!!!they hang onto profits for shareholders although they will jump up and down and say havnt paid outside dividends since 2017 ,you have you have just rebranded it and tried to hide it!!and I am not paying more for being able to use my water less jog on you money mad maniacs
They can get stuffed, they have just told us we can’t use it with hose pipe bans. We should ALL refuse to pay for their charges for ”return to the sewer” when they are not treating it and dumping it in the sea. Bloody rip off charges yet again, why are they allowed to get away with it?
I never take notice of bans they can get fucked..
What a joke. They want £43 more to put poo in the sea and we cant use our hose pipe.
Don’t the Island have underwater springs?
We used to have a lot of reservoirs but they stopped using them and sold some off.
Just phoned them my fucking bill last year was £568 this year its fucking £891 Was £57 a month now they want £89 a month for next year putting it over £1000 ! unbelievable..fucking ripoff fucking ofwat load of bollocks.
What do you expect from any business owned by Macquarie Group.
The biggest bunch of Australian criminals imaginable.
This means the big boss is getting even bigger payout then
I couldn’t agree more with all the above comments.
How do our bills compare with others across the country I wonder?
Anyhow, I just received a lovely email from Southern Water inviting me for a nice chat on the afternoon of 10 September at The Salvation Army Hall in Newport.
Apparently my opinion matters to them.
So what does IOWCC say now? They refused to pass a no confidence motion despite various Parish Councils having done so and insisted that their approach would be more effective. So let’s hear from them. Meanwhile, Messers Robertson and Quigley I hope you are applying every pressure possible in Westminster to press for renationalisation of Southern Water
So we moved to Newport at the end of 2023, after living in lake in a bigger house, the water bill was £40 a month, it stayed that way here the last year it jumped from £40 to £100 last year and this year from £100 to £147 so when they say £43 a year they really mean a month and we are still literally surrounded by sewage pumped from every outlet they can find, when is someone anyone going to step up and do something about it – anyone
I really want to not pay my waste water due to them dumping raw sewage into our our waterways regardless of droughts or flooding it’s just an excuse but my husband pays it because he’s a decent person & won’t do anything he shouldn’t, yet those B……s in SW get away with it, I’m going to the Salvation Army hall on September 10th & really give them a piece of my mind, putting our Grandchildren at risk with their so called spills, I hate them so much.