Tackling leakage, protecting and improving the environment and ensuring improvements to drinking water quality continue to be among top priorities for the water company together with ensuring resilient and reliable service for customers right across the 8,700km of water pipes in the areas.
The next 12 months will see the roll out of the final stage of the group's 2015 to 2020 £1.1 billion pound investment plan and a number of large scale projects are planned.
A £2.7 million project to install new pumps at Stratford St Mary pumping station in north east Essex. The pumping station is one of ther main sources of raw water to fill Abberton Reservoir, which provides water to over 1.4 million customers in our region. This project will ensure we are able to provide a reliable and resilient pumping resource for the future.
A £0.7 million water main project in Bradwell, Great Yarmouth, which has seen around 5km of new water main installed in the area and a new pumping station built at Lound Water Treatment Works. Part of the larger £4.5 million Lound to Gorleston pipeline project that will allow us to increase the capacity of our existing water network in the area.
A £5.2 million investment as part of our commitment to protecting the environment, with the building of new infrastructure to protect endangered eels at our abstraction points in rivers across Essex and Suffolk.
The company's extensive investment programme not only brings major improvements for customers it also supports thousands of jobs and local businesses who supply products and services.
Customers will see an increase of just 1p per day in their charges for the 2019/20 year, with the average household paying around 70p per day for all of their clean water services.
This small increase, that is below the rate of inflation, will go towards the water company continuing its multi-million pound improvement programme to secure reliable supplies of great quality water for customers, protect and enhance the environment and to deliver unrivalled customer service to the people of Essex and Suffolk.
Heidi Mottram, Essex & Suffolk Water's Chief Executive Officer, said: "Providing a first class reliable service for our customers that is great value for money is our number one priority. We are investing millions of pounds in our region to make sure we can deliver this for our customers.
"Our plans for this year will not only ensure that our communities continue to have a reliable and resilient supply of clean, clear tap water that tastes good but will also help to provide much needed work for local companies and secure jobs in the regions we supply.
"Efficiency and value for money continue to be a major focus for us and we're keeping bills as low as possible for our communities. Our household customers will only pay, on average, around 70p per day for all their drinking water services - which represents good value for money – and that is really important to us.
Customers who are facing difficulty in paying their bills can find more information at https://www.eswater.co.uk/your-home/your-account/Difficulty-paying.aspx.
Or by seeking help from independent advice agencies such as Stepchange at www.stepchange.org.