Water rates

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Taken from http://www.ccwater.org.uk/server.php...ConWebDoc.1853




Consumer Council for Water welcomes appointment for review of water charging, metering and affordability

4 August 2008
The Consumer Council for Water today (4 August) welcomed the Defra’s appointment of Anna Walker to chair an independent review of water charging, metering and affordability.
Dame Yve Buckland, Chair of the Consumer Council for Water, said: “We are pleased that the government is taking these issues seriously, and recognises that a review of charging and metering would be incomplete without looking at the issue of water affordability as well.
“There are only very limited safety nets in place for those already struggling to pay their water bills, and we are particularly concerned about the impact of an expansion of metering on low income families. Better protection for vulnerable customers must be in place before metering is to be pushed out on a wider scale.
“We look forward to working with the Chair, Anna Walker, and bringing consumers’ concerns about these issues into the review.”
Ends
Notes for editors
1. The Consumer Council for Water represents consumers in England and Wales.
2. The Consumer Council for Water is the statutory water consumer body, and operates as a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Assembly Government. It has a committee for Wales, and at local level is supported by four regional committees in England.
3. Our national website is http://www.ccwater.org.uk.
For public enquiries to the Consumer Council for Water, please contact via email on enquiries@ccwater.org.uk, our national number, 0845 039 2837, or via minicom on 0121 345 1044.

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Re: Water rates

And this taken from here (DEFRA) Appointment of Independent Chair for the Review of Water Charging :: WhitehallPages.net :: News & central government job vacancies:

(DEFRA) Appointment of Independent Chair for the Review of Water Charging

Information Bulletin


Anna Walker, Chief Executive of the Healthcare Commission, has today been officially appointed to lead the independent Review of Household Charging and Metering for Water and Sewerage Services.
The Review and its scope was announced earlier this year in Defra's Water Strategy "Future Water", and the terms of reference outlined today include:
* Examine the current system of charging households for water and sewerage services, and assess the effectiveness and fairness of current and alternative methods of charging;
* Consider social, economic and environmental concerns; and
* Make recommendations on any actions that should be taken to ensure that England and Wales has a sustainable and fair system of charging in place.
This could include changes to current legislation and guidance.
In reaching its conclusions the Review's assessment will include:
* the effectiveness and fairness of charging methods, taking into account current trends in water metering and the use of the rateable value based system;
* the appropriate pace of change and method of moving towards universal metering to ensure sustainable abstraction in areas of water stress;
* the cost and benefits of metering, taking into account all costs including the full social cost of carbon;
* the effectiveness of different types of innovative tariffs in helping vulnerable households and/or reducing demand;
* the effectiveness of measures to manage affordability concerns for low income households;
* the impact on health and health inequalities of current and alternative methods of charging; and
* the effectiveness of measures to incentivise people to pay for their water and sewerage services and minimise the impact of bad debt on customers that do pay, excluding disconnection.