Mum says 'no fat left to trim' on household costs as water bills set for 42% rise

A mum says there is "no more fat left to trim" off her household bills despite making changes at home to use less water.

Victoria Owen said she had implemented a "don't waste it" rule, encouraging her children to have short showers and re-use the water after washing dishes.

It comes after water companies across England and Wales were given the green light to increase bills for customers by an extra £3.4bn in the coming years, to meet increased pressures on infrastructure and the environment.

Welsh Water, Wales' main water and sewerage supplier, said it was working to support its most vulnerable customers and planned to invest £4.2bn by 2030 to improve services.

People in most parts of Wales faced a 27% increase in their water bills from April 2025, with the average annual bill going up from £503 to £639.

It marked the start of a five-year period of bill increases from Welsh Water, totalling 42% by 2029-30.

Victoria, from Cardiff, who is a single parent, said she spent "almost every single spare penny" on her household bills and there was "nothing left to waste", other than a Netflix subscription she had bought for her children.

She has a water meter, meaning suppliers charge a customer for the precise amount consumed rather than using an estimated flat rate.

"We turn the taps off when brushing our teeth, use the excess water on the plants after washing the dishes.

"We don't throw it away," she said.

Victoria has introduced a shower timer to save water which has been "quite difficult" to enforce.

"My kids want to stand there under the shower for hours," she said.

"They've got a limited amount of time and then the hot tap goes on in the kitchen, which means they get showered with cold water."

In a survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 84% of respondents said they had taken at least one action to cut water usage over the past month.

Figures obtained by the Welsh Liberal Democrats revealed that Welsh Water lost 85,000 million litres of water due to leaks in 2024/2025.

Welsh Liberal Democrat David Chadwick has called on the water company to "urgently get its house in order" by fixing the leaky infrastructure.

Hafren Dyfrdwy, which serves the north east of Wales, lost 5,400 million litres of water in the same year.

A Welsh Water spokesperson said it was aiming to reduce leakage in its network by 24% by 2030.

It said it was investing £476m as part of a long-term project that would see the upgrade of the network over a period of years.

"Climate change is also impacting the situation as drying soil conditions increases bursts over the summer periods," it added.

Robert and Bernadette Guy, from Cardiff, said they were "absolutely shocked" to discover that their Welsh Water bill was set to rise by about £400 this year to £1,400 annually.

They decided to install a water meter which had proven more cost-effective - bringing their annual bill down to £600.

But Robert said this meant they were "having to think a bit more carefully" about their water usage.

"I've got a lot of pint glasses and every time I wash my hands in the sink, I put a pint glass below, and we line them up on on the windowsill before putting them on the garden.

"The other day I had seven pints of water which would have gone down the drain."

Robert said they were planning to buy a "dedicated bucket" to collect the water in the future.

"We've got a large garden and the thought of saying we can't afford to water it just felt awful," said Bernadette.

Bernadette said she was "absolutely astounded" to find out the cost of paying for their water, as it used to be just a "little add-on" to their monthly bills.

They said they felt it was also unfair to ask customers to take responsibility for years of under-investment into the ageing infrastructure.

"When I put the light switch on, I don't care how that electricity gets to my light bulb, I just want it to work," said Robert.

"I think that goes for a lot of people. We just want it to work when we want it and to work as cheaply as possible."

Prof Ian Walker, head of psychology at Swansea University, said people could be "constrained by automatic habits" when it comes to water usage.

He said: "You might think, 'I should take shorter showers', but once you get in there, you go into auto-pilot and take the same time regardless.

"One of the best things you could ask people to do is don't have showers and don't wash your clothes. But that's not going to happen either."

He suggested an easier approach was to lock-in water savings measures, such as getting a low-flow shower.

"You do that once as a deliberate choice, but then you never think about it again."

Welsh Water said its bills had "historically been held below inflation in real terms for much of the past decade".

"There is now a widely recognised need for increased investment to meet environmental requirements, respond to climate change and improve the resilience of our infrastructure.

"Customers pay an average of less than £2 a day for drinking water that is consistently ranked as equal highest quality in the world."