The average household water bills in England and Wales are set to rise nearly 12 percent beginning Friday.

The increase recently was approved by the industry regulator Ofwat to help pay for water infrastructure improvements. Water companies plan to invest $31.6 billion U.S. over the next five years.

Consumer group Watervoice has condemned the huge price rise as likely to hurt poor households and more beneficial to water company shareholders than customers.

The regulator claims that higher rates will enable water companies to make further improvements to the quality of drinking water and to the environment, as requested by the government.

Source: BBC News   March 31, 2005