In its business plan for 2015 to 2020, submitted to Ofwat today, the company also said it would invest £868 million to improve services.
SWW’s proposed price limits for 2015 to 2020 would see the average annual household bill for water and sewerage bills increase at 1.7 per cent per annum to approximately £557 in 2019/20.
The company, which has the most expensive bills in the UK, pointed out that the increase was well below the forecast inflation rate of 3.2 per cent a year.
Chris Loughlin, chief executive of South West Water, said: “We are proposing to invest 20 per cent more than we will between 2015 and 2020 to safeguard and upgrade our networks and services.
“Customers have clearly told us they want no cuts in services and no big increases in bills. With the vital input of thousands of our customers, dozens of organisations in the South West and our independent customer challenge panel, we believe we have put the best, balanced plan to improve services people and businesses depend on and protect the environment while keeping bills as low as possible.”
Water companies across England and Wales have been submitting business plans to regulator Ofwat today and so far, all except Thames Water have announced a hold on rises for the five years between 2015 and 2020.