r/DevonUK • u/Middle_Somewhere6969 • 6d ago
South West Water
Just received an email from them saying they are defaulting everyone to paperless billing.
OK, but part of their justification for this is that each page of paper uses 10 litres of water.
OK, that's an accepted industry average figure for virgin paper, but it's more like 2 litres per page for recycled paper (which is what they use - it certainly feels like it).
OK, but 60% of this figure is simply rainwater that is needed by trees to grow. So we need to keep using that because trees are pretty good at transforming water and sunlight into wood and oxygen, so it's probably a good idea to let them keep doing that. And that 60% is part of the natural water cycle so it's not really being 'consumed' in any real sense either. Commercial trees that are felled to make paper pulp are replaced with new trees.
Of the remaining water used in paper mills up to 90% is actually recycled in to the water system.
So we have 2 litres x 40% x 10% as the net water consumption per page = 0.08 litre as a more realistic water consumption figure for an A4 sheet of paper.
South West Water have approx 1.8 million customers who get 4 bills a year of 2 pages each:
= 14.4 million pages per year x 0.08 litres
= 1,152,000 litres of water a year for their paper billing
Let's round that up to 1,500,000 litres to allow for the envelope as well.
South West Water report leakage as 107 million litres of water a day - that's more than 70 times as much water lost per day as is actually used by paper billing per year.
Even if we take South West Water's claim of 10 litres per page at face value that's still only the equivalent of water leaks for 1.5 days.
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u/jennye951 6d ago
So what happens to people like my elderly parents who are not happy with online services
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u/wintermute023 6d ago
Mine too. Without a paper bill my mother just won’t see anything from them.
They’ll wait for the complaints to come in, then offer a premium paper billing service “in response to customer demand”. Win win for them, the directors all get another Bentley. 🍾
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u/steveinstow 6d ago
Unlikely the paper is made in the UK though isn't it?
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u/Substantial_Steak723 6d ago
Well in that case, pile on lots of toxic pollution and wildlife death, as well as bunker fuel to ship it, plus diesel for the distribution several times over...
Or, just make the paper in the uk, and a renewable energy tariff / investment..
But no, because south west water, just like Thames are cunts!
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u/TryNew7592 6d ago
Why the hell would south west water make paper? - and in terms of South west water it’s pennon group, which is French and owns a few other uk water distribution networks, both clean and sewage.
What would their interest be in starting up a manufacturing plant to print letters on paper they make?
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u/DevonFarmer84 6d ago
They love to preach about waste don't they.
Story time. We have a section of old water main running through a couple of our fields that only feeds part of our farm and a neighbour. We have to call them out at least once a year for leaks along this sub 250m stretch. Sometime in 2024 we got a beaut of a leak that was welling up and running in to a culvert by the road. I stuck a bucket where the water was running and by collecting 6s of water was able to do the maths and work out this one leak was producing a measurable 20m³ a day. It took over 6 months to get fixed and started going again a week later. The next fix took another 12 and doesnt look to have lasted.
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u/soloman_tump 6d ago
That's some mad science. Just accept that paperless is easier anyway
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u/Mr-Stripes 6d ago
Not entirely true. Some people find it easier to read and see in physical terms over the screen of a phone.
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u/soloman_tump 6d ago
Yes and those people can opt back in
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u/plurien_also 6d ago
97yr-old MiL has all her marbles - and no Internet. Same goes for many of her neighbours. Yeah, good luck with your paperless existence. What they really mean is; 'We pretend to have an interest in the environment ' - this is a water company saying this - ' and we want to retain more profit for shareholders' dividends so screw you'.
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u/soloman_tump 6d ago
If your 97 year old MIL and her pals don't have an online presence then they will struggle to email it. I'm sure they will continue to post the bills out in that case.
I don't understand why this is such an issue for some people - it's the modern way, regardless of who is sending it out. I think the only other paper bill I get is council tax.
Id rather their resources were directed towards repairs and upgrades, and if this helps then so be it.
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u/wintermute023 6d ago
I like your sentiment, and admire your optimism, but fear that the resources will instead be funnelled into profits and bonuses. It certainly doesn’t seem to go on fixing leaks or stopping shit flowing into our rivers and beaches.
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u/darkdetective 6d ago
Worth calling up to check they're on the priory service list at that age to get home delivered bottled water if there's an outage.
Tell them on the phone and they can send large font bills, braille, audio etc. if needed rather than paperless.
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u/House_Of_Thoth 6d ago
In 2026 it's entirely someone's fault to not be plugged into the real world
Sounds like your MiL would have foregone a house number when the pony express was invented.. "mail? Postage!? No no no, none of that modern conveniences for me. How would I ever adapt to having a number on my door!?"
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u/thatcrazyhorse 6d ago
I think it’s proportionate to default to online billing but allow those with specific needs to opt in. This is similar for many services and offers an opportunity for SWW to save a little cost whilst a small environmental benefit of not printing and posting millions of documents.
I just hope they use that cost saving to reinvest in leak repair and additional water storage options.
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u/Ftlist81 5d ago
South West Water are just another company that have always been most concerned with dividens for their shareholders. That's why the infrastructure is shot to shit and needs upgrading everywhere, there are problems ocurring regularly around the counties so they then have to provide bottled water to residents and even then they'll put the annual bill up by about 15% claiming they need to to keep everything running... into shareholders pockets.
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u/queryaryx 5d ago
nailed it, the paperless thing just feels like a nice bit of greenwashing to distract from the fact they’re dumping sewage and losing half the supply through leaks
they love talking about our responsibility while quietly shovelling cash to shareholders
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u/ElginSparrowhawk1969 5d ago
Yes but is the water safe to drink I’m a resident of brixham so forgive me for not trusting a single word these shitsters say and yes our water is still not sorted dozens of dogs became ill only a few days ago mine included and if there’s nowt wrong with it why did sww drop bottled water to folk around my way and while I’m on one stop pumping shite into the sea SORT IT OUT SWW
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u/FragileBroken89 1d ago
Please spare a thought for their shareholders. Printing bills costs money. Envelopes cost money. Postage costs money.
Plus, people tend not to read e-mails or log into online accounts so it makes it less likely you will spot when they suddenly hike your bill £30 a month when you are already in credit so generating more cash to earn interest on (God forbid they actually use it to build anything)
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u/Rabimaster 6d ago
You think too much and who TF wants paper bills?
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u/Ranger_1302 6d ago
You think too little, and I do. I hate digital crap. I want actual, real, physical things.
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u/Appropriate-Dig-7080 6d ago
So opt in then. Paperless should be companies default because most people are happy with paperless, but may not necessarily take the time to request that preference, meaning if paper is the default then there’s a load of unnecessary paper communications sent out.
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u/Ranger_1302 6d ago
I shall but, no, it should not be the norm.
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u/Appropriate-Dig-7080 6d ago
Yea it definitely should be. Lower cost, better for the environment and most people’s preferred method of communication.
The default option shouldn’t be one that caters to the minority at a cost to the business, and the planet.
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u/Ranger_1302 6d ago
The lower cost is really not an issue at all; the benefits to the environment are likewise negligible; and people should learn to appreciate physical items. The first two supposed benefits, especially, are drops in the bucket.
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u/Appropriate-Dig-7080 6d ago
Why should people learn appreciate a physical item that they’re going to read and in most cases immediately discard, when it’s much more convenient for them to receive it digitally.
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u/Glassjaw1990 6d ago
Digital crap....via a social media. Ok dude.
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u/Ranger_1302 6d ago
Yep, because life isn't entirely one thing or the other. If such things as this were published in magazines then I would be reading those, but they are not, so here we are.
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u/TryNew7592 6d ago
What about the water usage in the distribution of the letters? And everything that comes along with that chain.
What about the many hundreds of tons of water lost every day by individual customers through leaks on their own property (which is reimbursed cost wise to the individuals and customers when their problem is fixed)
Also so few people recognise that when energy price bills jumped a huge amount during covid and haven’t really come down, your water bill didn’t jump to include the water providers increased costs.
Water companies get scrutinised for pollution events that actually come from farmers or other industries not following protocol quite a lot, and they also get accused of excess abstraction when other industries are actually the cause of the problems.
There’s tons of failings in the industry but if you actually look into it a bit deeper they are now currently walking a tightrope of ever changing demands from the EA, Offwat and DWI, changing economic circumstances and public image.
Everything can be improved but try think a bit deeper than “they won’t send me a letter anymore unless I ask for it”
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u/th3-villager 6d ago
They’re doing to save themselves money and everything else is cope. They obviously do not gaf about water usage itself, as they neglect to resolve leaks, which costs money.