I am grateful to my noble friend for those observations. I am pleased that he at least agrees with the sentiments behind my amendments. However, I remain worried that where discounts are allowed by Ofwat for a section of the customer network, this could in certain circumstances impact unfavourably on others. If that occurs to non-householders or house- holders in rural areas, as so often could be the case, I fear that that is a slippery slope.
My noble friend said that the proposal to limit the reasons for having different rules might stifle innovation. Again, I simply do not understand why that should be the case. It is simply a proposal to try to ensure that we do not use the remoteness of a locality as an excuse to charge people more than their urban counterparts where, of course, service costs are, indeed, cheaper.
However, I suspect that I will not persuade my noble friend to change his mind. Therefore, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.