Affordability

For most customers, water charges are good value for money and represent a very small proportion of household income. However, for customers on a low income and/or in financial difficulty, this is not always the case.

The Thames Water Trust Fund, set up in February 2009, is able to help customers in financial difficulty or hardship. Thames Water donated £2.5m to the Trust Fund in 2009/10. Although set up by Thames Water, the Trust is a registered charity and operates independently of the company. Customers can contact the Trust themselves, or be referred by third parties.

The Trust assesses the customer's income and expenditure and confirms whether a grant can be given towards arrears or current charges. In the year 2009/10, 3,222 customers were referred to the Trust, with 2,209 receiving grants totalling £1,160,976.40 – representing an average grant of £525.

In addition, through the Trust we are able to support a number of Citizens Advice Bureau and money advice centre initiatives.

Our WaterSure Scheme continues to help households with a metered water supply, who receive specific benefits and either have a large family of three or more children for whom they receive child benefit, or include someone with a verifiable medical condition requiring the use of extra water. More than 2,800 customers are benefiting from this scheme, with an increase of 5.5 per cent in the number of applications received during 2009/10.

The annual information leaflet we send all customers with their bill contains helpful information about the Trust Fund and WaterSure, as does the 'welcome pack' we issue to customers who move into, or within, our region. This is in addition to information available on our website.

Customer awareness is also supported by our contacts with over 500 local Citizens Advice Bureau and other support agencies, through which we provide information about our extra care services, the Trust Fund and the WaterSure Scheme.

At a strategic level, we also campaigned during the year for the right to introduce new social tariffs to support the most disadvantaged of water customers. This follows research we have carried out with our customers, which showed support for this kind of safety net.

The need for social tariffs was at the heart of our submission to the Walker Review, an independent government review of water charging carried out during the year. Following on from this review, we also looked for social tariffs to be included in new legislation, and were pleased that the Flood and Water Management Act 2010 included such a provision. We will now work with the Government and our regulators to develop the framework for new social tariffs.