(Reuters) - British water firm United Utilities missed market expectations for annual profit on Thursday, as pricer consumer bills failed to offset a steep rise in costs.

Expensive consumer bills, however, helped lift annual revenue by 8.1% to 1.95 billion pounds ($2.47 billion), the company said.

The water supplier to North West England reported an adjusted operating profit of 517.8 million pounds for the year ended March 31, compared with analysts' expectations of 522.2 million pounds, as per LSEG data.

($1 = 0.7888 pounds)

(Reporting by Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)