RobJP makes a fair point. However there are ways to reduce the cost of your water. One is with a meter, provided you don't have a houseful of women and only a bath, no shower. The other is to think carefully about your usage, just as you should with gas, electricty etc. Education is neccessary, for instance all my children used to clean their teeth with the cold tap running: why? because it never crossed their mind it had to be paid for! When we got down to three of us at home we had a meter installed and our monthly bills went from over £40 to around £25 per month. I read the meter and sent in readings online and after the first year we had uasful pattern of consumption. That was with Morthumbrian Water then and they were fine to deal with. I now find Southern and South East Water less easy to deal with. Bear in mind also, if you use £10 worth of water they charge you £10 to take it away via the drainage system, that is how it works. It is worth going to a meter for most people and the savings are there to see, just takes some time to form a regular usage pattern. Incidentally in our previous large house we went from 2 bathrooms to three shower rooms, which saved us a fortune in water usage. Do the arithmetic and it will stand up for most.

Cheers Concrete

The joke of it all is that some water utility companies, such as Veolia (formerly Three Valleys [supply] and Anglian [sewerage - don't ask me why its different, I have no idea]) are getting rid of low usage tarrifs, such as the former Anglian Water 'SoLow' tarrif (its similar to the elec and gas companies - no standing charge, but a higher per cubic metre charge). My bill will, as a result, be rising by about 33%.

Hardly encouraging lower usage of water - all the 'schemes' are for are for low income families, but that do not encourage reductions in actual water usage - all they do is get the rest of us to subsidise them and those households (mainly those with many people living in them) still on rateable bills.

Many people are just downright lazy when it comes to use of water, electricity and gas, and show no sign of reducing their use unless they are forced to. I agree that its frankly pointless to introduce actual competition unless we had a nationwide network similar to electricity, which, as some have said, is nigh on impossible due to the cost and the vast differences in water hardness etc across the country.

In my view, the only way to reduce costs is to:

1. Force everyone (business included) to have meters, make the standing charge as low as reasonably practicable, and charge a reasonable rate that is the same for each household in an area (dependent upon the cost of providing water and sewerage);
2. Have larger enforcement teams and bigger fines for people & businesses who misuse water and sewerage services, such as using hoses/sprinklers in droughts or, in particular, flushing oils and fats in large quanitites and other items such as nappies and sanitary products down the loo/waste pipes which cause huge problems with blockages. Use public awareness campaigns, especially in schools, to help this and to reduce water wastage.
3. Make sure (by law) the water companies commit to actual investment in drastically reducing leaks by methods other than reducing pressure and invest in quality infrastructure and equipment (and staff) to ensure the LONG term supply of water is assured at a reasonable cost to users. Heavily fine utility firms' holding companies and execs for mismanagement, and not allow them to increase prices/reduce investment to pay for it. They get a long term contract if they demonstrate good comporate responsibility, if not, they get turfed out with no compensation. They only run/maintain the services - they don't OWN them (the government would).
4. Change the 20+ year out-of-date working practices of the firms on customer service (mine closed my account a few years ago because a new neighbour gave them the wrong address - no security measures to stop tampering with my account [and still not today]. I had to PAY my 'closing' bill 4 months early as a result), including the help lines and project/works management;
5. Make sure that prices don't just go up to line the pockets of 'investors' and execs - it shouldn't be 'easy money' - utilities should be classed as a low risk, ok yield LONG term investment only. Ordinary people should be encouraged to buy into such firms so they can have a say how they are to be run, as they really are a social service dressed up as a private firm (even for me as a lifelong Tory voter). Communities that have a stake in such services often are more responsible in their usage of them.

I'm sure others can think of more things to keep prices down and quality/extent of service up.

We have a water meter here in France, as does everybody, the meter is read yearly-it has a natty little "windscreen wiper" on the inside of the dial glass which is operated by turning a little knob on the outside to wipe the inside of the glass so you can see the figures! - Anglian Water please note!)

Here in Yorkshire (Yorkshire Water) they jsut read the meter wirelessly so never even need to open the flap in the street