Water companies in England, and one which covers a small part of Wales, have submitted five-year business plans to the industry regulator, Ofwat, laying out their strategies for increasing bills and making investments from 2025. Amid a row about who should foot the cost, the under-fire suppliers are asking customers help fund a record £96bn investment to fix raw sewage leaks, build new reservoirs and reduce leaks.
Much of the cash is to upgrade creaking infrastructure neglected since privatisation, even after £66bn in dividends were paid out to shareholders and £54bn of debts were accrued. The plans will now be reviewed by Ofwat, and final decisions on whether to accept them will be published in December 2024. Here’s what the largest companies are proposing, and how much bills could rise from 2025 to 2030.
Southern Water
Area covered South-east England stretching from Hampshire to Kent, including the Isle of Wight
Number of customers 2.5 million
Bill increase £262, from £412 a year to £674 by 2030
Planned investment £7.8bn, which includes £320m on upgrading its four largest water supply works; £517m to cut leaks, including replacing mains and rolling out smart meters; £451m into sewage collection; and £400m in sewage treatment after repeated criticism over regular pollution of bathing waters. The company added: “We may need to invest up to £27bn over the next 25 years.”
Thames Water
Area London and the Thames Valley
Customers 16 million
Bill increase £175, from £436 to £611 a year
Planned investment £18.7bn, which includes £4.7bn to improve service quality; £640m to upgrade two sites; further investment to replace 310 miles (500km) of water mains; replacing 54,000 lead pipes and reducing the number of sewage floods into properties by 17%. The company has seen the abrupt resignation of its former chief executive and emergency contingency plans for its collapse drawn up this year. It also plans to tap investors for a further £2.5bn from 2025 to 2030, after securing £750m of funding by 2025.
Severn Trent
Area From Bristol Channel to the Humber, and mid-Wales to east Midlands
Customers 4.6 million households and businesses
Bill increase £139, from £379 a year to £518
Planned investment £12.9bn, which includes spending on reducing leaks by 16%; reducing storm overflow sewage spills by 30%; bolstering backup water tanker fleet; cutting carbon emissions; and improving water quality.
United Utilities
Area North-west England
Customers 7.3 million
Bill increase £110, from £443 to £553
Planned investment £13.7bn, which includes £1bn to improve the Haweswater aqueduct project – a huge new water pipeline from the Lake District to Lancashire and Greater Manchester; reducing storm overflows by 60%; putting £525m into cutting bills for vulnerable households; cutting internal sewer flooding; £200m linked to HS2’s northern leg, which is now expected to be scrapped.
South West Water
Area South-west England
Customers 3.5 million
Bill increase £116, from £504 to £620 a year
Planned investment £2.8bn, which includes ensuring swimming in clean water at every beach year-round after regular sewage discharges; increasing wastewater treatment such as the modernisation of Isles of Scilly waterworks; improving connections between reservoirs; and resurrecting plans for the Cheddar Two reservoir.
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Yorkshire Water
Area Yorkshire, parts of Lincolnshire and Derbyshire
Customers 5.5 million
Bill increase £111, an increase from £442 to £533 a year
Planned investment £7.8bn, which includes £2.4bn to refurbish and replace mains; £461m on smart meters and £959m on environmental efforts; the company also hopes to tackle internal sewer flooding and sewer collapses. The decision by the company’s chief executive to forgo her annual bonus because of public anger over sewage pollution of rivers was labelled “hollow” in June.
Northumbrian Water
Area North-eastEngland, Essex and Suffolk
Customers 2.7 million
Bill increase About £75 to £470 a year in the north-east; and by about £35 to £290 a year in Essex and Suffolk
Planned investment £6bn, which includes a plan to “eliminate serious pollution events” and cut all pollution by 30%; £370m to make sure water supplies are resilient to a “1 in 500 year drought”, particularly in Essex and Suffolk; and investing in customer service. It also plans to return more than £90m to shareholders if interest rates fall.
Wessex Water
Area Parts of Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, most of Wiltshire, parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire
Customers 2.9 million
Bill increase £150, from £517 to £667 a year
Planned investment £3.5bn, which includes £900m to address nutrient pollution in waterways; £400m in improving storm overflow infrastructure; and £120m on handling pollution and sewer flooding.
Anglian Water
Area East of England and Hartlepool
Customers 4.3 million
Bill increase £77, from £496 a year to £573
Planned investment: £4bn of environmental investment including “sustainable urban drainage schemes”; two new reservoirs; and reducing pollution and spills.
