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Vital Statistics
Price increase since privatisation (real terms) - 72.4%
Cost of average bill in 1997/98 - £351.92
[Rising prices]
Leakage rate in 1996/97 - 129m litres per day
[Water leakage]
Amount of water supplied daily - 478m litres
[Regional water supplies]
Population supplied with water - 1.5 million
Drinking water meeting required standards - 99.7%
[Drinking water]
Successful prosecutions for pollution incidents since 1989/90 - 10
[Pollution patrol]
Bathing water meeting required standards - 90.6%
[Bathing waters]
Number of disconnections in 1996/97 - None
[Disconnections]
Cost of water meter installation - £17-£67
Households with water meters - 13.3%
[Water meters]
Annual salary of Water Service Managing Director in 1996/97 - £107,000
[Salaries at the top]
Company profits in 1996/97 - £110.3m
[Profiting from privatisation]
The March 1998 value of a £100 investment made at the time of privatisation - £583
[Your £100 investment]
Customers
South West Water has shown the highest increase in combined water and sewerage bills since privatisation, with a dramatic rise of over 72%. A household bill in this region is nearly £120 more expensive than the national average. This is largely attributable to the cost of improving the quality of the region’s bathing waters and bringing them up to standards set by European law. The company also charges for installing a water meter, although the price is only £17 if placed in an existing meter chamber. Just over 13% of households use water meters but 87% of industrial users are metered, the highest proportion in the country. South West Water also does well when it comes to disconnection rates. The company has had a policy of not disconnecting domestic customers for non-payment of bills for the last two years.
Environment
Out of the 10 combined water and sewerage companies in England and Wales, South West Water has the second lowest leakage rate. But the amount of water lost every day would still allow over three and a half million people to each have a shower. Ofwat has set the company the target of achieving a 26% reduction in these figures by 1998/99. The region has the highest number of EU designated bathing waters. It has 181 out of the total 448 bathing areas in the United Kingdom and has spent a lot of money cleaning them up since privatisation.
Business
Robert Baty, the Managing Director of South West Water was paid £107,000 last year. His was the lowest managing director’s salary out of the combined water and sewerage companies in England and Wales.
Related Programmes
"Called to Account"
BBC2, Close Up
Thursday 26th March 7.30 pm
Millions of pounds are being spent to bring the South West's water and sewerage system up to standard. Customers are bearing the brunt of the cost while shareholders in the privatised water company sit back and wait for the dividends to roll in. Are water users getting good value for money?
Bob Baty, the Managing Director of South West Water will be called to account in a special studio debate starting at 7.30pm on BBC2. Also on the panel will be Ian Byatt, Director General of Ofwat, Chris Hines of Surfers Against Sewage, Catherine Bryce, regional general manager of the Environment Agency and Linda Leonard from the National Consumer Council.
followed by Close Up Talkback
BBC local radio in the South West will be running a phone-in special from 8pm - 9pm during which guests from the night's Close Up television debate will be answering questions from the public.
All BBC local radio stations will have special coverage of water issues in their breakfast programmes every day this week - and there'll be phone-in programmes when water industry bosses will be put on the spot by their customers. Tune in to your local BBC station to find out more details of their coverage of the BBC's Water Week.
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