PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
OFWAT ANNUAL REPORT (23 June 1996)

That this House endorses the view of the Water Regulator at the launch of his Annual Report on Friday that the water industry is experiencing a loss of public confidence; expresses surprise that he did not accept the Regulator's role in this; deplores the record of the industry since privatisation of increasing prices, decreasing investment in infrastructure renewals and repair and company leakage figures which have actually increased; believes that Mr Byatt's continued obsessive campaign on metering ignores the concerns over the social and health costs of water metering installation, and constitutes undue discrimination against 90 per cent. of domestic customers who pay on the basis of their property value which is an effective way of distributing the cost of the service fairly between rich and poor; and is seriously concerned that the regulatory regime is becoming more concerned to defend its past record than to bring forward tighter regulation in order to restore public confidence.

Sponsored by:
Helen Jackson (Labour)