South West Water to pay £24m to avoid fine from Ofwat over leaks July 10, 2025 South West Water is to invest £24m into its network and local environment to avoid being fined by the industry regulator after a failure to manage its wastewater network led to unnecessary leaks. Ofwat said the utility had “failed to build” and operate its wastewater treatment works and sewer network to “ensure they performed sufficiently.” [...]
Thames Water bosses face fresh grilling from MPs over bonus row July 9, 2025 Thames Water bosses have been hauled back in front of MPs after accusations of a “lack of transparency” surrounding bonuses carved out of an emergency loan. The crisis-hit utility has refused to take back nearly £2.5m it paid to a host of senior managers from the £3bn lifeline provided by creditors earlier this year. Some [...]
The truth about infrastructure: investors need a return June 19, 2025 The government is set to unveil it’s 10-year infrastructure strategy. To make it a success, they must dial down the negative rhetoric – especially when it comes to water, says Jon Phillips The government has placed private investment at the heart of its growth mission. So, today’s 10-year infrastructure strategy – setting out the country’s [...]
MP to take Thames Water to Supreme Court over restructuring plan June 17, 2025 A Liberal Democrat MP will take a case against Thames Water’s restructuring to the Supreme Court. Charlie Maynard, MP for Witney, was among a group which included the utility’s secondary creditors, who opposed a £3bn emergency loan agreement earlier this year. Thames Water has been battling to stave off special administration over the last year [...]
Water sector needs ‘root-and-branch’ reform, MPs say June 16, 2025 The water sector is in need of “root-and-branch reform”, a committee of MPs has said as it called for “much more regulated management” of bonuses for senior bosses. The cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs committee has said that the industry is “failing”, but that water companies are “deaf to the crisis” that it is [...]
Thames Water lenders offer £17bn plan, push Ofwat for ‘regulatory reset’ June 10, 2025 A group of Thames Water’s major creditors have put forward a sweeping, multibillion-pound rescue deal, while calling for forgiveness of historic fines from Ofwat. Major investment firms, including Aberdeen and Elliott Management, are among the investors, who have said they have “the funding and experience required to deliver a transformation of the company’s performance which is intended [...]
Is the government right to ban water company bonuses? June 6, 2025 It is safe to say the water industry is not in the government’s good books. Decades of underinvestment and mounting debt have led to a sewage spill crisis, sparking immense public outrage. Thames Water, the UK’s largest water supplier, has come to symbolise the sector’s woes as it teeters on the brink of administration. US [...]
Thames Water: Water boss bonus ban comes into force June 5, 2025 Six water companies including crisis-hit Thames Water will be banned from paying bonuses to senior bosses. New measures in the Water (Special Measures) Act come into force on Friday, prohibiting utility firms that oversee “poor environmental and customer outcomes” from offering bonuses to senior bosses. The companies impacted are Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, [...]
Thames Water mess could soon swamp ministers – and taxpayers June 4, 2025 Water takes the path of least resistance, and so – on this occasion as least – does private equity. Apparently deterred by the increasingly hostile political and regulatory environment KKR, the US giant which secured ‘preferred bidder status’ for a takeover of Thames Water, pulled the plug on its £4bn investment over the weekend. They [...]
Water industry requires fundamental reset, review finds June 3, 2025 There is no single change radical enough to deliver the “fundamental reset” needed by the UK’s water industry, a much-anticipated review into the sector has found. The Cunliffe review has been led by former Bank of England deputy governor Sir John Cunliffe and is the largest since the sector was privatised in the late 1980s. [...]