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Our investment plans

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    We're investing in Yorkshire

    child on beach at seasideOur final business plan which outlines our investment and prices for the next five years, from 2010-2015 has been reviewed by Ofwat and they've now published their response, known as the Final Determination.  We carefully considered the detail of their response and have accepted the Determination.

    See how our investment will benefit Yorkshire and what this means for you in terms of your water and sewerage charges until 2015 .

    A £1.9 billion investment

    The money we're putting aside for improvements between 2010 and 2015 will be more than just a drop in the ocean - customers, businesses, future generations and even visitors to Yorkshire will see a ripple of benefits - right the way from Bentham to Bridlington and Reeth to Rotherham! 

    In this section you'll see  how we'll be spending £1.9 billion; how we're ensuring that the money will be spent wisely, and where improvements have been made since our last price review with Ofwat in 2005.

    The Final Business Plan and what it means for you

    Child with glass of waterOur proposals to invest across Yorkshire between 2010-2015 were set out in our Final Business Plan, recently reviewed by our regulator Ofwat.  In November 2009 Ofwat published their Final Determination - their response to our plans which sets out how much we can invest and what this means for customers in terms of our prices until 2015 . We accepted the Determination in December 2009.
     

    Our approach in developing our investment plans was to 'strike the right balance' .   This means we took on board the views of our customers and stakeholders and reflected these in improving services and the environment.


    See how we'll be spending £1.9 billion across Yorkshire.   

    Water supplies - £92 million

    • Continuing to ensure that you have a secure supply of drinking water.
    • Maintaining high standards of water quality across the region.
    • Fitting Automated Meter Readers (AMRs) to water meters so we don't have to come to your home to read your meter - this will mean we send out fewer estimated bills. 

    Bathing water and environment - £110 million

    • Improving the quality of bathing waters by minimising pollution incidents and delivering improvements to rivers and beaches.

    If you've done your maths you'll see this is only a fraction of the £1.9 billion we'll be investing. For a deeper look into what our investment means for you, sit down with a cuppa and have a flick through our full business plan. We've also included some other downloads from Ofwat.


      Final business plan   (2mb)

     

    Ofwat downloads


    Ofwat press release (115kb)


    Future household water and sewerage bills 2010-15 in England and Wales (205kb)


    Final Determination - key headlines (148kb)


    Final Determinations in England and Wales (1mb)

     

    Sewer flooding - £100 million

    • Reducing the number of properties that experience internal sewer flooding.
    • Address external flooding issues.
    • Improve our sewerage assets to better deal with extreme weather conditions.

    Watch our video to see where we'll be investing and what this means for you (click on the image below - the video will open up in a new page)

    Striking the right balance for Yorkshire



    Ofwat website link  











    Our water prices 2010 - 2015

    Ofwat's Final Determination suggests that over the next five years (2010-2015) our water and sewerage prices will fall by an average of £4 per year in the first two years and increase by just £1 by 2015. This will take the average bill from £331 to £332 between 2010 and 2015, an increase of just 20p per year above inflation.

    2009-10   

    2010-11   

    2011-12   

    2012-13   

    2013-14   

    2014-15  

    Proposed price limit

    2.10%

    -1.20%

    -1.30%

    1.40%

    1.80%

    1.60%

    Indicative price limit (water service)

    0.70%

    -2.47%

    -0.71%

    0.79%

    0.30%

    0.51%

    1. Average measured household bill

    £133

    £130

    £129

    £129

    £129

    £130

    2. Average unmeasured household bill

    £165

    £170

    £171

    £174

    £177

    £180

    3. Average household bill

    £154

    £150

    £149

    £149

    £149

    £149

    Indicative price limit (sewerage service)     

    3.40%

    -0.06%

    -1.81%

    1.92%

    3.09%

    2.52%

    1. Average measured household bill

    £153

    £155

    £153

    £155

    £159

    £163

    2. Average unmeasured household bill

    £192

    £198

    £197

    £203

    £212

    £219

    3. Average household

    £177

    £177

    £173

    £176

    £180

    £183

    Average household bill (total)

    £331

    £327

    £322

    £325

    £329

    £332

    How we decided where to invest

    As part of our planning we produced a strategic direction statement to look at our aspirations of service and prices right through to 2035.


    As part of the plan we asked one of our most important audiences for their ideas - children ! - after all they'll be our customers in 25 years time.


    We were inundated with fun, interesting and creative ideas - take a look...


    Throughout the planning process we also spoke to customers, local governing bodies, MPs and Councillors to see what they thought.

    What we achieved between 2005-2010

    During our last five year investment programme (2005-2010) we invested £1.5 billion in the region. Our aim has been to safeguard and improve Yorkshire's water and sewerage infrastructure, whilst being more efficient to keep our prices as low as possible.


    We've spent an average of £750 per household to maintain and upgrade our pipes and works to reduce the risk of bursts, low water pressure, incidents of discolouration, sewer flooding and odour problems.


    The improvements we've made across Yorkshire

    Between 2005-2010 we've spent:

    • Water mains york to new yorkAround £247 million to improve our treatment works and upgrade over 1,200 miles of water mains - enough pipework to stretch from New York to York!  This investment will improve water quality and reduce the risk of discolouration for over one million customers.
    • £39 million to resolve sewer flooding at 386 properties and to resolve outdoor flooding at 88 locations.
    • £90 million to upgrade and replace Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) across the region and improve river water quality.
    • £227 million ensures that our largest sewage treatment works comply with the requirements of the new Fresh Water Fish Directive .

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