8:30pm Thursday 31st July 2008
By Lauren Oldershaw
WATER bills are set to rise to help pay for major work to extend Abberton Reservoir near Colchester.
The news Essex and Suffolk Water is hiking its prices, to an average 1.3 per cent above inflation, comes just a day after record increases on gas bills of 35 per cent and 9 per cent on electricity were announced by British Gas.
But the price increase from the water company, which is the southern arm of Northumbrian Water, forms part of a billion pound investment it says is for the benefit of its customers.
The increase in fees will go towards the £140million Abberton Reservoir extension, to meet drinking water demand, which is already going through the planning stages.
There is also work to improve sewage facilities in the north-east and to improve the quality of drinking water.
The £1.3 billion investment programme will be rolled out between 2010 and 2015, if the plans are approved by regulator Ofwat.
They have been set out in the company’s stock exchange interim management statement and as part of its business plan.
More on this story in Friday's Gazette
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