Up to four million people cannot afford to pay their water bills, a committee of MPs has warned.

The environment, food and rural affairs committee warned that current measures to address "water poverty" were inadequate.

"The difficulties some consumers face in paying their water bills are a matter of great concern to the committee... Measures to help vulnerable customers do not appear to have been effective," said the report.

Forum Response: National Consumer Council

Maxine Holdsworth, senior policy officer at the NCC, said: "MPs are right to call the government to account over the ineffective measures for helping people on low incomes afford their water bills. Millions of households struggle to pay for water, yet few get help from the government's useless vulnerable-user scheme.

"It is vital that affordability becomes a central criteria for the regulator in deciding water charges for 2005/10. In the North West, for instance, where United Utilities suggests a 70 per cent hike in prices would be necessary over 5 years from 2005, a single person on current levels of job seeker's allowance would see their water bills swallow 15 per cent of their income.

"The NCC wants to see Defra, DWP, Ofwat, and water companies conduct a thorough review and come up with concrete plan of action to help those who cannot pay their water bills."