By Jaime Llinares Taboada

U.K. water industry regulator Ofwat said Monday that it is raising the price cap for the business retail market by 0.49% to cover bad debt costs that arose because of the pandemic.

The increase is higher than the 0.31% previously anticipated after Ofwat incorporated bad debt costs reported by suppliers during fiscal 2020.

The rise, which doesn't affect households, will take effect in April and last two years. A small-business customer with an average annual bill of 500 pounds ($670.8) could be paying up to GBP2.45 more a year, Ofwat said.

"Implementing this small and temporary upward adjustment to the business retail price caps aims to protect business customers, including by maintaining strong incentives on retailers to keep bad debt costs as low as possible," Business Retail Market Director Georgina Mills said.

Write to Jaime Llinares Taboada at jaime.llinares@wsj.com; @JaimeLlinaresT

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 28, 2022 03:03 ET (08:03 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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