"The bill can go even higher and no one will ever look at the value to the consumer who had no say in this political debacle."
The water company mandated a change to meters instead of an annual charge effectively based on house size. My bills dropped by quite a bit as I rattle round a large family-sized house. The shocking bit was that the standing charge is five times my metered water consumption.
When customers cut their consumption of the standard utilities - expect the standing charges to rise to make up the difference.