CAMPAIGNERS blasted Ofwat for making the public pay for the failures of privatisation with proposed water bill increases today.
The water regulator has put forward proposals to increase water bills by an average of 21 per cent over the next five years.
Thames Water, which paid dividends worth £158 million in March, proposed an increase of £191 over five years, but Ofwat lowered this to £99.
Severn Trent’s proposed rise of £144 has been cut to £93. Yorkshire Water customers will pay £107 more, and Southern Water customers will face a £183 increase.
The increase follows companies’ proposals to have customers foot the bill for billions of pounds’ worth of updates to their crumbling infrastructure, which saw sewage spills more than double last year.
An analysis by the University of Greenwich found that the top 10 water firms have paid out £72.8 billion in dividends, when taking inflation into account, since the industry was privatised more than 30 years ago.
River Action chief executive James Wallace said: “For decades the industry has put profit before the environment, rewarding its shareholders with billions in dividends, and in the process filling our rivers with human sewage.”
Rather than getting customers to pay, Ofwat should “direct their shareholders to urgently invest in fixing their leaky infrastructure,” Mr Wallace said.
Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, said: “The private companies haven’t invested a single penny of their own money since 1989 (it’s all come from our bills) and they’ve left the infrastructure to crumble.
“Thames Water could easily be brought into special administration and then permanent public ownership with shareholders and bondholders losing out to get the best deal for the public.
“The rest of the English water companies should have their shares handed to the public instead of being fined for sewage.”
New polling by Take Back Water, a campaign for public ownership, showed that 47 per cent of the public think that refusing to pay their bills is an acceptable form of protest against water companies for the sewage crisis.
Unison head of environment Donna Rowe-Merriman said: “The rot must stop.
“Water companies and the regulator must be held accountable to ensure the public interest always comes first.
“A complete overhaul in the management of the industry is urgently needed.”
The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said it plans to attract “major private-sector investment to upgrade infrastructure while prioritising the interests of customers and the environment.”
