Six million homes ‘could face mandatory water meters’ to prevent shortages

Suppliers are called on to ‘lead by example’ by fixing leaks that see billions of litres of water wasted

The proposed change was reported at a time households have seen soaring household bills (PA Archive)

Millions of people could be forced to have water meters in their homes in suppliers’ attempts to prevent water shortages, it’s claimed.

Water companies supplying areas that have a “serious” risk of shortages could force households to have meters installed.

About six million househoulds – supplied by Cambridge Water, Portsmouth Water, South Staffordshire Water, Severn Trent Water, Veolia Water, Wessex Water, and Southern West Water – could be made to have them fitted.

Those who do not have the meters installed could be charged more expensive flat-rate tariffs that could add about £200 to their annual bill, The Telegraph has reported.

Rishi Sunak is under pressure to do more to help households facing growing supply bills (Getty Images)

Water bills are already being increased by 1.7 per cent from April, when national insurance rates will increase and the price cap on gas and electricity will spike by a record 54 per cent.

Currently, millions of households are hit by record-high energy prices, and the general cost of living rising due to inflation reaching 5.5 per cent – a 30-year high.

Meanwhile, a fifth – more than three billion litres – of water currently used is being lost to leaks each day, according to a 2020 report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Bodies responsible for water supply – the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Ofwat and the Environment Agency – had made “no progress” over the last 20 years to reduce leaks, the report says.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) has said companies need to “lead by example” by reducing the amount of water lost by leaks before putting responsibility for water loss on households.

A CCW spokesperson told The Telegraph: “Metering programmes have identified and fixed leaks on customers’ own pipework but water companies should be leading by example in reducing the enormous volumes of water that are lost every day and which dampen households’ own motivation to save water.”

For small households with low water use, installing a meter typically results in cheaper water bills.

Larger households and those with certain medical conditions can have costs capped via the WaterSure scheme – which requires a water meter to have been installed, as well as proof of high water use.