The Times article quoted in this post includes a table listing the water price increase proposals announced so far. These include SWW.

Owl understands these increases have to be approved by Ofwat

Remember there is also a sewage disposal charge (on the basis of what goes in also goes out, or at least 90% of it. Many a slip ….etc.)! – Owl

We  paid off the debt before privatisation.

We have paid ££££ millions subsequently.

Why have the water companies failed to invest?

We are being ripped off! – Owl

Water companies are drawing up plans to increase household bills by up to 40 per cent to pay for the cost of tackling the sewage crisis and the consequences of climate change.

Oliver Wright, Adam Vaughan www.thetimes.co.uk

In a move that has alarmed ministers, England’s privatised utilities said that they needed the extra money to meet strict pollution targets.

The rises are due to be announced next year and could result in annual bills increasing from an average of about £450 to £680, plus inflation, in parts of the country.

Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, is due to raise the matter at a meeting on Wednesday with the water regulator Ofwat. Water prices rose in April by up to 11 per cent in some areas.

Under a process being run by Ofwat, England’s water companies have been asked to submit investment plans by October to fulfil commitments to tackle pollution from sewage. These include improving storm overflows discharging in or near designated bathing spots and improving 75 per cent of overflows discharging to high-priority nature sites.

Public consultation documents seen by The Times show that, to pay for the work, most companies are asking the regulator to approve real-terms price increases of, on average, 25 per cent between 2025 and 2030.

Among the biggest rises are those being proposed by Southern Water, which in 2021 was fined a record £90 million for dumping raw sewage into rivers and coastal waters. It admitted almost 7,000 illegal discharges from 16 treatment works between 2010 and 2015, including several sites in the Southampton area.

It proposes to increase its charges to customers from £432 to a minimum of £677 by 2030, although it suggests the figure could be as high as £793. This, the company says, would allow it to invest an additional £4 billion.

South East Water, which has just imposed a hosepipe ban on two million homes in Kent and Sussex, is planning to increase its bills by as much as 39 per cent by 2030.

Thames Water is proposing rises of 20 per cent while Wessex Water wants to put up its prices by 30 per cent.

Ofwat will scrutinise the plans before deciding whether to approve them next year. The fear in government is that the final price rise could be announced around the time of the next election.

A government source said that Hunt wanted to use the meeting with Ofwat and other consumer regulators to “understand the issues going on in the industry”.

Hunt is also concerned about price rises in other regulated industries such as telecoms and energy, which ministers fear are fuelling inflation.

Water UK, which represents the sector, recently apologised for sewage spills and said that it would spend £10 billion between now and 2030 to curb discharges into rivers and seas. That proposal alone is expected to add about £12 a year to water bills by 2030, according to government estimates.

The Times Clean It Up campaign has been calling for greater investment to tackle water pollution, acknowledging that water bills may have to rise but that the neediest customers should be protected.

A cross-party group of peers said in March that bills would probably have to increase after being flat or falling in real terms for 15 years. The Lords industry and regulators committee said that Ofwat had failed to make water companies spend enough in the past decade, “choosing to keep bills low at the expense of investment”.

Mike Keil, senior director at the Consumer Council for Water, said that while investment was needed, nearly a quarter of households were struggling to pay their water bills during the cost of living crisis. “Customers support the need for investment in enhancing the environment and the resilience of our water and sewerage services but we know that could lead to some substantial bill rises,” he said.

“Investment on the scale being proposed must come with a strong safety net to protect households that cannot afford their bill.”

Katy Taylor, Southern Water’s chief customer officer, said the company shared “everyone’s concerns about rising payments” during a cost of living crisis. But she added: “Our region poses a unique and specific set of challenges, which require significant investment moving forward. Meanwhile, we continue to support customers who need help to pay their bills, with a minimum 45 per cent discount offered to around 125,000 households.”

A spokesman for Water UK said: “There is an urgent need for investment to transform our rivers and seas, radically reduce leakage and protect future water resources. While it is clear bills will need to rise, the exact level is not yet known.

“Increases would be distributed across several years to make this more manageable for customers, and industry will take action to ensure that those who are less well-off are protected as much as possible.”

Ofwat said that it could not comment before the companies submitted their plans in October.

On Tuesday, Sarah Bentley, its chief executive for the last three years, resigned with immediate effect, saying: “The foundations of the turnaround that we have laid position the company for future success to improve service for customers and environmental performance.”

Now:

The government has begun drawing up contingency plans for the collapse of Thames Water amid growing doubts in Whitehall about the ability of Britain’s biggest water company to service its £14bn debt-pile.

Mark Kleinman news.sky.com

Sky News has learnt that ministers and Ofwat, the industry regulator, have started to hold discussions about the possibility of placing Thames Water into a special administration regime (SAR) that would effectively take the company into temporary public ownership.

Such an insolvency process was used by the government when the energy supplier Bulb collapsed in 2021, sparking concerns that it could cost taxpayers billions of pounds.

Ultimately, the Bulb administration is likely to have cost the public purse a far smaller sum, but water industry ownership restrictions which prevent consolidation mean this figure could be dwarfed if Thames Water was to fail.

The talks within Whitehall, which involve the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), Ofwat and the Treasury, remain at a preliminary stage and relate at the moment only to contingency plans which may not need to be activated.

Thames Water serves 15m customers across London and the south-east of England, and has come under intense pressure in recent years because of its poor record on leaks, sewage contamination, executive pay and shareholder dividends.

On Tuesday, Sarah Bentley, its chief executive for the last three years, resigned with immediate effect, saying: “The foundations of the turnaround that we have laid position the company for future success to improve service for customers and environmental performance.”

In March, however, Sky News revealed that Thames Water was facing crunch talks over its finances and had hired Rothschild, the investment bank, and the law firm Slaughter & May, to explore financing options for the company.

The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday night that Thames Water was still trying to raise £1bn from shareholders and that AlixPartners had been drafted in to advise on the company’s operational turnaround plans.

One industry source said that regulators had also sought advice from restructuring experts in recent weeks, although their identity was unclear.

Taking Thames Water into temporary public ownership would inevitably fuel calls from critics of the privatised water industry to renationalise all of the country’s major water companies.

Thames Water is owned by a consortium of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, many of which are understood to be sceptical about delivering additional funding.

Its largest shareholder is Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (Omers), a vast Canadian pension fund, which holds a stake of nearly 32%, according to Thames Water’s website.

Others include China Investment Corporation, the country’s sovereign wealth fund; the Universities Superannuation Scheme, the UK’s biggest private pension fund; and Infinity Investments, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

Hermes, which manages the BT Group pension scheme, is also a shareholder.

Thames Water employs about 7,000 people, and serves nearly a quarter of Britain’s population.

Ms Bentley’s exit, which came soon after a row about her declaration that she had surrendered a controversial annual bonus, also reflects deeper divisions about how to address the mounting crisis at the company.

Earlier this year, she said she was “heartbroken” about the company’s historical failings, blaming “decades of underinvestment”.

Alastair Cochran and Cathryn Ross have been named joint interim chief executives as a search for Ms Bentley’s replacement is conducted.

Thames Water has been fined numerous times, and is facing a deluge of regulatory probes.

In 2021, it was hit with a £4m penalty for allowing untreated sewage to escape into a river and park, while in August 2021, it was ordered to pay £11m for overcharging thousands of customers.

The range of financing options available to Thames Water’s board – whose chairman, the former SSE chief Ian Marchant, is also due to step down imminently – appears to be limited.

Nearly £1.4bn of the company’s bonds mature by the end of next year, with Ofwat price controls meaning water companies have little scope to generate additional income.

In an investor update published last September, Ms Bentley said that “the difficult external environment has increased the challenge of our turnaround”.

A year ago, the company said it had agreed with shareholders the injection of £500m of new equity funding, with a further £1bn expected to be delivered by the end of next year.

The additional shareholder funding formed part of a £2bn expenditure increase, taking its total spending during the current five-year regulatory period to £11.6bn.

In its September announcement, Thames Water said shareholders had “further evidenced their support for [Thames Water] and its business plan through an Equity Support Letter where the shareholders have committed to hold investment committee meetings (for their respective institutions) as a path to obtaining approval (in the discretion of the investment committee) for funding their pro rata share of conditional commitments in respect of the further £1bn of additional equity which is assumed in TWUL’s business plan”.

“Whilst this is not a legal commitment to fund…the [Thames Water] board believes it is reasonable to incorporate this additional £1bn of equity funding in its assessment.”

The company has not paid a dividend to its owners for the last six years.

Thames Water is not the only major water company to face questions about its financial resilience and operational track record.

Ofwat has also been in talks with others, including Southern Water and Yorkshire Water, in recent years about strengthening balance sheets amid performance issues.

The financial collapse of Britain’s biggest water company, and its implications for the model of water ownership, would inevitably become a major political debating point in the run-up to the next general election.

Some critics of privatisation have demanded that the government consider mutual ownership structures, which would prohibit returns to shareholders and guarantee that profits would be reinvested in improving the sector’s dire performance, while upgrading water infrastructure assets.

In total, tens of billions of pounds have been handed to shareholders in water utilities across Britain since privatisation, stoking public and political anger given the industry’s frequent mishaps.

DEFRA, Ofwat and Thames Water were all contacted for comment on Tuesday evening.

Why did it take so long?

Simon Jupp, Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Transport since last November, gets to meet one of the ministerial members of the team! (And tries to impress his new constituency voters in Cullompton.)

“Just a word in your ear minister. (Oh, and can we have a photo op as well?)”.

In his latest weekly column he also claims to have successfully secured funding for a new school to replace Tipton St John Primary, £15.7 million from the Levelling Up Fund to reduce congestion in East Devon by building the Dinan Way extension, a new police station for Exmouth, reopening Honiton’s police station to the public, and multi-million-pound support for Exeter Airport during the pandemic.

Owl thinks Simon exaggerates his contribution to getting long overdue infrastructure funding in place and thought Alison Hernandez was claiming the credit for hiking our Council Tax to reverse austerity cuts in policing.

I met with the Rail Minister to discuss investment in trains in Devon

Simon Jupp www.midweekherald.co.uk

As your MP, I will continue to push for investment in local roads, railways, broadband, jobs and skills training.

Recently, I met with the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP, to discuss train services and investment in Devon.

The reopening of the Dartmoor Line is a major success. Passenger services have returned between Exeter and Okehampton for the first time in nearly 50 years thanks to the government’s Restoring Your Railway programme.

A new station at Marsh Barton will open on Tuesday 4th July. It will be served by hourly GWR services between Paignton and Exmouth, with additional trains at peak times.

I know Cullompton needs a railway station and I’ll continue to push for it at every opportunity. After a successful campaign by the former MP, Neil Parish, the government awarded funding for proposals to be drawn up and now Network Rail are leading the project. Beware of others who may try and claim the credit as the project develops thanks to the determination of the former MP and Conservative government.

I also provided feedback to the Rail Minister on services on the West of England and Avocet lines. Each week I use the train between Exeter and London Paddington or Waterloo. I experience first-hand the frustrations of passengers that I often hear about in my postbag concerning reliability and punctuality.

I visited Exton train station on the Avocet Line last year after concerns from the community about the inadequate shelter. I raised the complaints with GWR. Despite assurances scoping work for a new shelter would get a solution, no concrete progress is evident so I have raised this with GWR again.

Since I was elected in 2019, I have successfully secured funding for a new school to replace Tipton St John Primary, £15.7 million from the Levelling Up Fund to reduce congestion in East Devon by building the Dinan Way extension, a new police station for Exmouth, reopening Honiton’s police station to the public, and multi-million-pound support for Exeter Airport during the pandemic.

I have a proven track record and will continue to work hard for everyone I represent.

Are dogs on the beach the new “Canaries in the cage”? – Owl

One holidaymaker is demanding answers after her dog became ill after paddling in the sea around Maer Rocks in Exmouth. 

Spokesperson for the Environment Agency: “We had no pollution incidents recorded for Mear Rocks on June 11, nor for the two days before.”

Adam Manning www.exmouthjournal.co.uk

Diane Crestwell, her husband and dog Benji came to Exmouth on holiday on June 11.

They were enjoying the sunshine, and Benji decided to go for a dip in the sea.

He was in the water for about 20 minutes but became ill after getting out.

The dog had serious diarrhoea, and Diane had to stay outside with Benji as she didn’t want to bring Benji into their hotel.

Diane said: “The hotel staff were absolutely lovely, they could not do enough to help us and were sympathetic to Benji.” 

Diane consulted an Exmouth vet but decided to get Benji back home to see their local vet, about 300 miles away in West Yorkshire.  

She said: “We decided to just get Benji home at this point, it wasn’t nice travelling all that way with a dog with diarrhoea, as you can imagine.” 

After a few weeks, Benji has now recovered after being given various creams, steroids and a paste to go into his food.

Diane said: “Since then, I have been trying to get some answers to why Benji was so ill after being in the sea for such a short time.

“I contacted Exmouth Town Council, who told me to call East Devon District Council, who then told me to the Environment Agency, and I’ve still had no answers. 

“I contacted South West Water but haven’t heard back from them. I’m just so angry, his illness must have been from going into the sea at Maer Rocks.

“We took him to the vets before the holiday and he was healthy. It was as soon as he got into the water that he became ill so it must have been something there that disagreed with him. 

“I just want to make dog walkers aware that this happened to us and see if dog walkers or swimmers have had similar experiences. 

A spokesperson for the Environment Agency said: “We’re sorry to hear about the dog being ill.

“However, we had no pollution incidents recorded for Mear Rocks on June 11, nor for the two days before.

“Cases of suspected pollution can be reported to us at any time by ringing 0800 80 70 60.”