Policy & Research

Water

Water is an essential service and when problems occur, such as with frozen pipes in winter, it can be a stark reminder how critical it is to life. Water and sewerage services in Scotland are provided by Scottish Water.  Households pay a fixed price for water and sewerage, based on Council Tax bands, through council tax bills. Households can pay up to £787 a year. It is vital that consumers across Scotland get a fair deal and have access to high quality water and sewerage services.

Our role

In August 2011, we became the advocate for water consumers in Scotland. Our goal is to ensure that the needs of consumers are at the heart of the Scottish water industry.

To help us do this, we have a range of statutory powers and duties to enable us to act on behalf of consumers. This means organisations must consult with us and consider our representative views on behalf of consumers on water issues. These include Scottish Ministers, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, Scottish Water, the Drinking Water Quality Regulator and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

Our goals

Highlighting best practice on water efficiency in the water industry

We are proud to support the 2012 UK water efficiency awards. Click here for further details

Sales practices in the water industry

We have recently published ‘Trust and Transparency’ – an investigation that raised concerns about Scottish Water’s relationship with private insurance firm Homeserve. We looked into the issue of sales letters from the private firm being sent to thousands of households in Scotland in ‘Scottish Water’ branded envelopes. Our report urged the public sector utility to remove or minimise its branding from the private firm’s sales literature. Scottish Water has now implemented changes to Homeserve letters that address our concerns and, importantly, this makes the relationship less confusing for vulnerable consumers.

Scotland as a ‘hydro nation’

The Scottish Government’s consultation on ‘Scotland – The Hydro Nation’ sets out proposals to use Scotland’s water resources more fully to boost the Scottish economy.  We believe there is a need to help households make the link between saving water and saving energy, keep water prices low and ensure that global ambitions for the use of Scotland’s water is balanced with the need to address issues at home such as water debt.   We have made a range of recommendations on how the proposals should be strengthened in the interest of water consumers and will continue to make this case as the new Bill passes through the Scottish Parliament.

Our achievements

• Scottish Water have undertaken to ensure sales letters from private insurance firm Homeserve are clearer around who they are from – and water customers do not confuse this with communication from Scottish Water.  More information can be found in our Trust and Transparency report.
• Our report ‘Guaranteed Water Rights‘ found that Scottish Water needs to do more to promote its guarantees on consumer rights and we are working with Scottish Water to ensure they better promote consumer awareness of their minimum service standards.

Shaping the future of water and waste water services

Your views count

Scottish Water is considering its plans for the future of your water and waste water services in Scotland and wants to hear your views on these. 

You can find out more and provide your views the Scottish Water website link: 

www.scottishwater.co.uk/your-views-count