Water company fears rise in bad debt
Water company fears rise in bad debt
Thursday 24th July 2008
The company said that a rise in the number of customers who fall behind with their payments is a significant "risk" this year.
In April, Severn Trent hiked its prices by five per cent for customers who are likely to already be facing higher food, energy and housing costs.
A statement from the company read: "While we have not experienced any material deterioration, [a rise in customer debt] remains a risk to our outlook over the remainder of the year.
"In 2007, we introduced flexible payments and other schemes to make sure we kept the level down. However the underlying trend is up."
The warning from Severn Trent comes as research group Mintel recently said it had detected a rise in the number of people using credit card debt to cover the rising cost of living.
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