Water companies have been given provisional approval to increase customer bills by an extra £3.4bn in the coming years, as the regulator signs off additional spending on infrastructure and the environment.
Ofwat said it had approved the extra funding for 13 water companies in England and Wales, the BBC reported. Nearly a third of the increase is earmarked for maintaining water services, with the remainder funding work linked to housebuilding, new data centres and efforts to tackle “forever chemicals” such as PFAS.
Customers of five companies, including Severn Trent Water, Southern Water, Thames Water, Wessex Water and South East Water, face additional bill rises over the next two years, on top of increases already agreed in 2024. The new rises vary by firm. Southern Water, for example, will charge customers £43 more next year, while South East Water customers face a £1 increase in 2029. The other eight firms would recover their additional spending after 2030.
The increases only take effect if they receive final approval later this year. Ofwat said companies had submitted £4.3bn worth of requests, with some spending proposals rejected. “We will track performance to ensure companies are delivering the expected improvements for customers and the environment,” said Helen Campbell, Ofwat’s executive director for delivery. “If they don’t, expenditure can be clawed back.”
Prime Minister Andy Burnham criticised the proposal, saying it was “real money out of family budgets at a time when they are struggling with the cost of living”. Campaign groups went further. Amy Fairman of River Action called the decision “an insult”, while Kierra Box, water campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “Now ordinary people are being asked to foot the bill once again to pay for decades of water company inaction on upgrading our crumbling water infrastructure. It’s daylight robbery.”
Ofwat has also approved funding for specific schemes, including provision for new data centres in Manchester, additional wastewater capacity in Newquay and bringing forward work by Wessex Water to tackle PFAS pollutants, originally planned for 2030-35. A public consultation is now under way, with a final decision expected in December.