Scottish Water is to raise water charges in the east and west of Scotland by 10% to bring them into line with the north of the country.

Until recently there were three separate water authorities in Scotland and North of Scotland Water had the highest charges.

Now Scottish Water wants to "harmonise" bills across the country in line with the water industry commissioner's recommendations.

But the Scottish National Party warned that customers would be unhappy about the inflation-busting increases and demanded the appointment of a water customer champion.

Scottish Water said it was "harmonising" bills

Household water and sewerage charges for 2003/4 in the east and west will rise by about 37p a week for band A homes and 56p for band D homes.

The 9.9% increase will not apply to the north of Scotland where charges will remain unchanged for the second year running.

Professor Alan Alexander, chairman of Scottish Water, said: "Charges are lower in all areas than they would have been if we had remained as three separate organisations.

"This announcement means the average water charge in Scotland will still be less than �1 a day per household for all the water a family needs."

But SNP environment spokesman Bruce Crawford said: "Customers will rightly be questioning the fairness of this level of increase and will be asking what extra they will be getting for it.

Investment plan

"The SNP have been calling for a tough new customer champion, amalgamating the office of the water regulator and commissioner and this announcement only serves to strengthen that view."

About half of all households in Scotland are in bands A and B and the increase in the east and west amounts to about 5p-6p a day.

Scottish Water was created last April and is planning to invest �1.8bn in modernising public water and waste water services.

The water industry commissioner Alan Sutherland accepted the charges scheme for 2003-04 saying it would raise �957m.

He said: "No customer ever wants to pay more but we all want a good level of service, an improved environment and secure public health."