Water firms push for higher shareholder returns as Ofwat considers bills increase

Companies say higher returns are needed to ensure record infrastructure investment across industry is delivered

Water companies want to see higher returns for shareholders to ensure record investment into sewage infrastructure, pipes and treatment plants is delivered.

As Ofwat, the water regulator for England and Wales, prepares to announce its decision on how much customer bills will be allowed to rise by to fund tens of billions of pounds in investment across the industry, water companies said higher returns were needed.

Continue reading...

Regulator stops customers from being billed for ‘undeserved’ bonuses

Ofwat uses new powers to ensure investors pay at Thames, Yorkshire, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water

Investors at Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, and Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water will be forced to pick up the tab for executive bonuses after the regulator determined that the sector had awarded “undeserved” extra payments, worth £6.8m.

Ofwat said on Thursday it had used new powers to ensure that shareholders and bondholders at the three companies paid for bonuses because they had not “adequately reflected overall company performance issues”.

Continue reading...

Floods, explosions and asbestos: Thames Water faces potential problems on all fronts

Exclusive: Senior managers say they are forced to press ahead with orders for vital items without approval

When Sarah Bentley and Sarah Albon met at Beckton sewage treatment works in east London, the choice of location was designed to underline Thames Water’s predicament.

The site is Europe’s largest sewage treatment operation, with Grade II-listed parts of the site dating to the 1860s. It is now connected with the new Thames Tideway super-sewer, but insiders say several parts of the site are simply crumbling. The site is also riddled with asbestos.

Continue reading...

United Utilities refuses to hand over data on sewage discharges into Windermere

Water company claims information is not in the public interest despite widespread pollution of UK waters

‘It’s a national disgrace’: fury at sewage-filled Windermere over toxic algae and dead fish

One of the UK’s biggest water companies is fighting a legal battle to block public access to data on treated sewage it is discharging into Windermere in the Lake District.

United Utilities initially claimed that data from phosphorus monitors at sewage treatment works at the lake “was not environmental information”. It later claimed the information on phosphorus – which can pollute watercourses when at high levels – was “internal communication” and exempt from disclosure.

Continue reading...

Southern Water’s debt downgraded to junk status by Moody’s

Company close to technical default on some of its debt, underlining UK industry’s precarious state

Southern Water’s debt has been downgraded to junk status by the credit rating agency Moody’s in a decision that underlines the precarious state of the UK water industry.

Moody’s said Southern’s “history of material operational and financial under-performance” could imperil its plan, announced last month, to borrow £4bn from investors.

Continue reading...

Angela Rayner defends right of activists to campaign in US elections after criticism from Donald Trump – UK politics live

Comment follows accusation from Trump campaign that Labour staffers had been interfering in US election

The Labour party has put out a statement rejecting allegations that it broke US election law because activists and staff members have been volunteering to help the Democrats.

A Labour spokesperson said:

It is common practice for campaigners of all political persuasions from around the world to volunteer in US elections.

Where Labour activists take part, they do so at their own expense, in accordance with the laws and rules.

We said that because working people had already paid the burden under the last government, we wouldn’t increase the taxes, the main taxes that working people pay, so income tax - all rates - national insurance and VAT. So those taxes that working people pay, we’re not increasing those taxes in the budget.

We go into this budget with a number of challenges - the £22bn black hole just this year, in the public finances, the unfinanced company compensation schemes, for example on infected blood and Horizon, it’s really important that we honour but they weren’t in the forecasts from the previous government.

The fact that the previous government had baked in austerity to our public spending settlements in the years to come, and we committed to not return to austerity.

Continue reading...

Water companies raise bonuses to £9.1m despite record sewage discharges

Third of total comprises bonuses at Severn Trent as indebted Thames nearly doubles payouts to executives

Bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales rose to £9.1m this year despite record sewage discharges into rivers and seas.

More than a third of that total comprised bonuses at Severn Trent, which was fined £2m this year for “reckless” pollution but lifted its bonuses to £3.36m.

Thames Water almost doubled its payouts to executives, from £746,000 in 2021-22 to £1.3m in 2023-24, despite its CEO quitting halfway through the year.

Data from Companies House, analysed by the Liberal Democrats, show that overall bonuses increased from £9.013m last year to £9.127m this year.

The payouts pile further pressure on the regulator, Ofwat, to intervene in the decisions of water company boards. Last year, raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.

Continue reading...

Water companies in England and Wales told to pay £158m penalty to customers

Ofwat says firms must lower bills next year after poor performance on issues such as sewage spills and leaks

Water companies in England and Wales will have to return nearly £158m to customers through lower bills next year after falling further behind on key targets including sewage spills and leaks.

The regulator, Ofwat, announced the penalties as part of its annual review of companies’ performance.

Continue reading...

Southern Water seeks to borrow up to £4bn from investors

Move could increase pressure on utility companies turning to bond markets amid crisis at Thames Water

Southern Water is looking to borrow up to £4bn from investors over the next five years, in a move that could ratchet up the pressure on utility companies turning to bond markets for support amid the ongoing crisis at Thames Water.

An investor presentation posted to Southern Water’s website shows that it will need to tap investors for up to £3.8bn worth of debt over the next five years, as part of a revised business plan – on top of needing to raise £650m worth of equity.

Continue reading...

Unresolved water complaints in England and Wales rise to near-decade high

Customer disputes over sewage spills, billing mistakes and water meters soar in past year

The number of customer complaints that were unable to be resolved by water companies in England and Wales has risen by almost a third to the highest level in nearly a decade.

There was a 29% increase in 2023-24 in cases escalated to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) by households that failed to achieve a resolution from their supplier, the watchdog said.

Continue reading...

Small firms face near-30% rise in water bills, Ofwat letter reveals

Businesses in England and Wales say they are paying for ‘historic errors’ by water suppliers

Small businesses have accused water suppliers of saddling them with the cost of “historic errors” made by bosses in the scandal-hit industry, as it emerged their bills will rise nearly 30% by 2030.

The water industry regulator, Ofwat, has told businesses that it expects average wholesale charges for non-household customers – which include small firms, charities and hospitals – to increase by about 27% before inflation over the next five years, outstripping the anticipated rise in household bills.

Continue reading...

Labour used water industry analysis to argue against nationalisation

‘Economically illiterate’ Defra letter sent to anti-sewage groups cites 2018 report commissioned by water companies

Labour used “economically illiterate” analysis paid for by water companies in order to argue against the nationalisation of the sector, the Guardian can reveal.

In an official letter recently sent to anti-sewage groups, civil servants cited a paper by the Social Market Foundation as a reason to avoid nationalisation as part of its review of the sector. The report from 2018 was commissioned by United Utilities, Anglian Water, Severn Trent and South West Water.

Continue reading...

Southern Water considers shipping supplies from Norwegian fjords to UK

Contingency plan using sea tankers to deal with future shortages would be paid for from customers’ bills

Southern Water, one of Britain’s biggest water companies, is drawing up contingency plans to tanker water from Norway to deal with future supply shortages and drought.

Southern, which has 2.7 million customers for drinking water supply in the south-east of England, could import water from Norwegian fjords to provide up to 45m litres a day, and would pay for it from customers’ bills.

Continue reading...

Thames Water credit ratings slashed to lower levels of junk as default fears grow

S&P and Moody’s cut ratings by five notches on risk troubled company will run out of cash

Thames Water’s debt rating has been slashed to the lower levels of junk by two major credit rating agencies, piling further pressure on the UK’s biggest water company, which is rapidly running through cash and fighting to stave off renationalisation.

S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s said the utility was fast running out of money and on the brink of default. S&P cut its rating on Thames’s £15bn top-ranking debt pile by five notches to CCC+, taking it into the triple-C category that is considered very risky. Thames lost its investment-grade credit rating in July.

Continue reading...

Thames Water lobbied Whitehall to press Ofwat on allowing higher bills

Exclusive: Debt-ridden company also warned officials of ‘chilling effect’ of any renationalisation

Thames Water has lobbied the government to intervene with the regulator to allow it to charge far higher bills, the Guardian can reveal.

Advisers and board members of the beleaguered water company are understood to have met Whitehall officials in recent weeks to say that allowing it to be temporarily renationalised would have a “chilling effect” on the entire UK’s appeal to international investors, sources familiar with the discussions told the Guardian.

Continue reading...

Thames Water says without steep bill increase it’s ‘neither financeable nor investible’

Debt-laden company tells Ofwat if it cannot charge customers 59% more, it ‘would prevent company turnaround and recovery’

Thames Water has said it will be unable to recover from its funding crisis if it is blocked from charging customers significantly more, as it proposed to pile an extra £228 a year on to household bills.

The debt-laden company said the increase to bills that has been proposed by the industry regulator, Ofwat, leaves its activities “neither financeable nor investible”.

Continue reading...

Canadian export agency ‘hit by big losses after lending to Thames Water’

State-backed body EDC has reportedly sold at deep discount two loans made to debt-ridden UK utility

Canada’s state-backed export credit agency is reportedly nursing steep losses after lending debt-ridden Thames Water hundreds of millions of pounds.

The British utility, which has said it could run out of cash by next June, received two loans from Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2018 and 2019 at the behest of the Canadian pension fund Omers.

Continue reading...

UK rivers and beaches have been heaped with pollution for years – when will we talk about restoration?

The penalties reflect the failings of the Environment Agency and Ofwat as much as the water companies

Behind the record fines announced by Ofwat for the routine dumping of sewage into rivers and seas by three water companies, there is a voiceless victim, one that does not sit in boardrooms, or get a chance to count dividends. It is our rivers and coastal waters, subjected to years of continuous pollution under the noses of the regulators, which are suffering.

In all likelihood the £168m penalties for the already struggling Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water will be followed by fines for the remaining eight water and sewerage companies, all of whom Ofwat is investigating over failure to treat sewage according to the law.

Continue reading...

Southern Water boss handed £183,000 bonus despite huge rise in bills

Award for Lawrence Gosden comes despite criticism over business plan and attempts to increase bills by 73%

The chief executive of Southern Water has received a £183,000 bonus despite submitting a business plan that has been criticised by the industry regulator and attempting to raise bills more than any other English water company.

Lawrence Gosden received the bonus as part of a £764,000 pay package, up from £428,000 a year earlier, according to the company’s annual report.

Continue reading...

Thames Water owner to liquidate solar energy subsidiary amid debt crisis

Exclusive: solar developer Trinzic to voluntarily shut down as holding company seeks to recoup more than £25m

A solar energy project developer linked to Thames Water is to be liquidated and its staff made redundant as the crisis engulfing the debt-laden water supplier puts strain on its complex corporate structure.

Trinzic Operations Ltd, which is ultimately owned by Thames’s parent company Kemble Water Holdings, is to be voluntarily shut down, the Guardian can reveal.

Continue reading...