Water bills to go up and we have to pay more to water firms dumping sewage, giving poor service and making 'unjustified' shareholder payments - it's sickening
The public are set to pay more for their water bills from next April despite sewage dumping, poor service and gross shareholder pay outs - it is disgusting.
The news has dropped this morning (Thursday 19 December) that water bills will rise by an average £31 a year over the next five years and the increase is significantly higher than the expected average rise of around £20 a year per household, outlined in the regulator’s draft proposals in July. Ofwat said the increase would pay for a £104 billion upgrade of the water sector to deliver “substantial, lasting, improvements for customers and the environment”.
The average bill will rise by a total of £157 or 36% over the next five years. Even Thames Water has been allowed to hike consumer bills by 35% by 2030 despite the firm getting itself into a horrible debt mess that it is now trying to claw its way out of - and paying “unjustified” dividends to shareholders.
The industry regulator, Ofwat, handed Thames Water an £18.2 million fine over its dividend payments to shareholders. It is absolutely laughable and ridiculous that the regulator thinks it is a good idea to make Thames Water customers pay more to the firm while the company is paying ridiculous amounts to its greedy shareholders. It is criminal.
Why isn’t Thames Water using its “unjustified” shareholder payments to improve its infrastructure? Or help with its debt crisis? The heavily indebted company recorded a 40% increase in the number of pollution incidents in the six months to 30 September. Thames reported 359 category one to three pollution incidents in that period, blaming an especially wet spring and summer.
The company has been failing on so many levels and now it wants to make its customers pay more. It is outrageous.
One aspect that is also concerning about the announcements of bill rises today is that there is no confirmation as to whether ridiculous payments to shareholders will continue. Are we going to be paying more all the while water firms are making huge payments to their shareholders?
CEOs and shareholders have already received vile amounts of money - while we are now being made to pay more. This cannot continue. Rising water bills while this is all still going on is criminal.
Southern Water is even making a 56% rise in their water bills despite the current circumstances its customers are facing with water outages lasting to the weekend. Tens of thousands of homes could be without water thanks to its shoddy services - and it is a kick in the face for their customers finding out they are now going to have to pay the water firm more.
In July, Southern Water’s annual report revealed that its CEO Lawrence Gosden received a £183,000 bonus as part of a £764,000 pay package, up from £428,000 a year earlier. Instead of a ridiculous pay package to its CEO, how about spending some of this money on the water firm’s infrastructure? Seems a smart idea. But no, make the people pay instead.