The second largest water provider in the UK, the average water bill for Severn Trent’s eight million customers will increase £4 to £177, and the average sewage bill will increase £4 to £158.

Simon Mullan, credit manager at Severn Trent Water, said: “Any price rise, however small, is unwelcome in the current economic climate, but we have worked hard to keep bills as affordable as possible for our customers.”

The 2.2 per cent hike is also the second smallest in the UK, with some combined companies like Southern Water and Thames Water increasing their bills by more than 5 per cent.

Only Dwr Cymru Water in Wales are offering a lower increase, just 1.7 per cent.

Mr Mullan said: “In fact our [Severn Trent] customers will be paying an average of 92 pence a day – that’s less than the average cost for a litre of bottled water.”

Although the company - who supply 8 million customers from mid-Wales to Rutland and from the Bristol Channel to the Humber - will offer the cheapest combined water and sewage bill, there are cheaper water-only companies.

The average bill from Cambridge Water will be £130 next year but the cheapest is available in Portsmouth, where the average water bill is just £96.

However, Severn Trent’s average water bill of £177 is below the industry average of £186, and the company’s average sewage bill of £158 is more than £40 cheaper than the industry average of £202.

And Severn Trent pointed to a £24 million investment in Warwickshire, renewing more than 80,000 metres of water mains over the next five years.

The company currently delivers almost two billion litres of water every day through 46,000km of pipes. A further 91,000km of sewer pipes take waste water away to more than 1,000 sewage treatment works.