Andrew Dismore

Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden has established that Government policy is keeping water bills higher than they need to be.

After a hearing at the London Assembly Environment Committee, which helped restrict Thames Water’s excessive demands for higher water bills, Mr Dismore followed up further  detailed points with them.

One problem he identified was the impact on everyone else’s bills of those bills that were not paid because the occupier has moved. Thames Water   estimates that up to 40% of their account details could be out of date as a result of change of occupancy. This number is particularly high in London because of the transient population and high proportion of rented properties.

Mr Dismore said:

“It is ridiculous that we are all having to pay more in our water bills because the Conservative Government want to protect landlords form ensuring their tenants don’t move out before paying their bills or making their forward  contact details are made available to the water companies to follow up. Landlords are  responsible for Council Tax that is unpaid by tenants, but not water bills, even though they are levied in many cases in the same way.

If they were given the powers to recoup bad debt from landlords (as for Council Tax for example),  Thames Water estimate they  would secure enough revenue to reduce the average bill by around £4. However, the Conservative led Coalition Government will not give them the right to do so. If landlords knew they were responsible for these bills if their tenants default they would deal with it ,as they do for Council Tax.”