Water companies hit with almost £150m in penalties – CCW response

The failure of 11 water companies to deliver on their promises to customers has resulted in them being hit with fines totalling almost £150 million by the regulator Ofwat.

The scale of the penalties for failing to achieve performance commitments reflects the extent to which companies have let customers down on issues including interruptions to their water supply and sewer flooding.

The penalties will result in almost £150 million being taken off customers’ bills from next April.

Mike Keil, Senior Director of Policy, Research and Campaigns at the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said:

The scale of these penalties reflects the extent to which too many water companies have failed to deliver on promises made to their customers and it’s right households are reimbursed. This will help to ensure bills do not rise as much as anticipated next April for some customers but it won’t be enough to cushion the blow for the one in ten households that already say their water bill is unaffordable. We urgently need a new water affordability scheme to end the current postcode lottery of financial assistance for customers in hardship.

You can read more about what this means for individual companies here