BRITAIN’S largest water supplier is hoping to impose a 44 per cent price increase for its 16 million customers to help fill the financial hole created by years of underinvestment and high dividend payments.

The increase, which would see average bills rise to £627 a year by 2030, is part of Thames Water’s new business plan, which it has submitted to regulator Ofwat.

GMB national officer Gary Carter said: “It’s not for hard-up billpayers to dig Thames out of the financial mess they’ve created.