Speaking at the All Party Parliamentary Water Group (APPWG) fringe meeting today, Paterson said that bad debt proposals had been left out of the Water Bill because it is for each individual company to sort out.
He said: “It is down to companies to manage bad debt and some frankly are better at handling those at the end of the day than others.
“I think that is one for the companies to sort out and its very much part of what we can expect to be left with the water companies.”
Colin Skellett, the executive chairman at Wessex Water, said: “The bill had more in than the draft, but compared to the white paper there are some things that I think that most of them we can pick up outside of the bill.”
He added that access to the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) would help identify those who chose not to pay and those who could benefit from social tariffs, but said “these are things that are outside of the need to put into the Water Bill.”
Bob Wilson, director at Anglian Water Business, agreed that “we don’t necessarily see debt as a matter for the bill”, but added that a national criteria for identifying customers who “can’t pay” would “help take things forward.”