Water Bills and How to Save?

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 4 July 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

New research, seen exclusively by Money Box, suggests a third of households in England and Wales are trying to cut the amount of water they use to help reduce their bills. The research comes from the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol which worked with the Financial Fairness Trust to speak to 6,000 households about their money situation. On water bills, 34% said they're using less to try to cut their bills with around 30% saying their bills have increased "a lot" over the past 6 months. What can people do to bring their bills down?

Some major mortgage lenders have been relaxing their lending rules to make it easier for people to borrow the money to buy a home. They have been encouraged by a letter from the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, which reminded them that they had flexibility around what is called the stress test, which is supposed to ensure borrowers can meet their monthly payments even if rates rise or their circumstances change. What does that mean for the risks around lending?

The listeners puzzled by a 25p rise in their state pension because of a rule that started back in 1971.

And, how much do you know when it comes to savings? If you don't know your Premium Bonds from your ISA and where to put your money to make the most out of your cash, we'll give you a little bit of help.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth, Peter Ruddick and Jo Krasner Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Rob Cave Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 7th June 2025)

Transcript

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0:35.1	Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast. As some mortgage lenders relax their
0:40.0	affordability rules and some don't even want to deposit, are they leaving buyers exposed to future
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0:51.5	and would you know what to do if you got a sudden windfall?
0:55.5	But first, water, the most essential human need, but it costs more than ever in England and Wales
1:02.3	after record price rises two months ago that saw average bills rise more than £120 to over £600 a
1:10.4	year. And before you write in, we know many bills rose by far more than £120 to over £600 a year.
1:15.3	And before you write in, we know many bills rose by far more than that.
1:19.9	But unlike electricity or broadband, of course, you can't look for a cheaper supplier.
1:22.4	You're stuck with the one in the area where you live.
1:28.2	And now new research done exclusively for this programme suggests a third of households in England and Wales are trying to save money by cutting the amount of water they use. Moneyboxes Peter Ruddick
1:33.5	has been looking at this research, Peter. Yeah, so these figures come from the Personal Finance
	...

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