Water Bills and Stamp Duty

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 804 Ratings

🗓️ 29 March 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From April water bills for millions of households in England and Wales will go up by record amounts. Exactly how much more you'll pay will depend where you live but, on average, bills will increase by more than £10 per month meaning a total average cost of over £600 a year. What can you do if you're struggling with those bills?

There's just a month left for people in the process of buying a home in England and Northern Ireland to complete the sale before stamp duty rises on April the first. Some estimates suggest there could be tens of thousands of buyers who will miss that deadline by just a few days. What can you do if you're trying to hit that deadline?

Train fares in England and Wales will go up on Sunday. At the same time, most railcards, which give you cheaper fares in England Wales and Scotland, will cost you more. We'll have more on that.

And energy prices will also go up in April. We’ll take a look at the issue of standing charges. Why do they vary regionally, and how might Ofgem’s proposals to reform them work?

Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporters: Dan Whitworth and Haider Saleem Researchers: Eimear Devlin and Jo Krasner Editor: Jess Quayle

(First broadcast 12pm Saturday 1st March 2025)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello, you're about to listen to a BBC podcast, so I'd like to tell you where you'll find more just like it.
0:05.5	I'm Izzy Lee Poulton, an assistant commissioner for BBC Sounds, which means I'm involved in the whole podcast making process.
0:12.0	Whether that's developing fresh formats or facilitating eye-catching artwork, I helped project manage all the details that make our podcast stand out.
0:19.0	At the BBC, we've got access to storytellers and experts across a huge range of subjects.
0:24.6	It could be psychologists, comedians, celebrities or journalists.
0:28.6	No podcasts or day looks the same here.
0:31.6	So no matter what you like, check out BBC Sounds.
0:33.6	There's probably another podcast on there that you're absolutely love.
0:42.3	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:45.2	Hello, welcome to this Moneybox podcast.
0:48.1	Train fares in England and Wales will rise tomorrow,
0:52.0	but so will the cost of most rail cards that give you a third off the price.
0:55.8	The £6 a week standing charge to be connected to an electricity and gas supply will not be scrapped, says the regulator. It's consulting on other choices.
1:02.5	And time is running out for people to buy a home before stamp duty rises on April the 1st,
1:07.6	but would it be cheaper to buy later? But first, one month from today, water bills
1:13.4	for millions of households in England and Wales will go up by record amounts. Exactly how much
1:18.8	more you'll pay will depend where you live, but on average bills will increase by more than
1:23.0	£10 a month, meaning a total average cost of over £600 a year.
1:28.8	There's no choice, of course, over which firm supplies your water.
1:31.8	It just depends where you live.
1:33.4	So what can you do to cut your bill?
1:35.8	Moneybox reporter Dan Whitworth went to North Wales,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 0 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.