Latest news with #Ofwat
Daily Mirror
19 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Martin Lewis' MSE urges households to check if they can get £2,000 compensation
You will get up to £2,000 for severe issues such as flooding, while households suffering consistent low water pressure will get up to £250 Martin Lewis' website has explained how households in England could be entitled to up to £2,000 in compensation from their water supplier from today. You could be entitled to payments for poor service such as disruption to your supply, low pressure or sewer flooding. You will get up to £2,000 for severe issues such as flooding, while households suffering consistent low water pressure will get up to £250. Payments will be automatically credited to your water account. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said it is the first increase in compensation rates in 25 years. Defra will expand the list of circumstances that will trigger compensation payments from October 2025. This includes payments for when customers are asked to boil their water due to contaminated supply. This will entitle households to £40 compensation, plus £20 for each 24 hours the "do not drink" notice is in place, up to a maximum of your annual water bill, excluding sewerage services. MSE said: "The changes are being introduced under mandatory new rules to be enforced by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). "Until now, guidelines on compensation payouts in England had been voluntary. These had been in place since 2000 and were monitored by water regulator Ofwat." Environment Secretary Steve Reed said: 'Too many water companies are letting down their customers – with leaking pipes, poor water supply and low water pressure. 'The Government is holding water companies to account by making them put money back into people's pockets when they fail their customers.' Mike Keil, the chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said: 'Customers expect to be treated fairly when their water company lets them down, so we're delighted the Government has moved at pace to strengthen service standards. 'This should give people peace of mind they now have far stronger protection from a much broader range of water company service failures – from the slow installation of water meters to the mishandling of debt recovery. 'As well as bolstering payments for thousands of customers, these changes mark an important step towards restoring trust in the water sector which is at an all-time low.' Ofwat chief executive David Black said: ''We welcome these improvements to guaranteed standards and payments for customers. 'When customers suffer from problems like low pressure, disruptions to supply or sewer flooding, they can experience major stress and inconvenience, and payment amounts must recognise the disruption to their lives when standards are not met. 'These new changes are another way to make sure customers are protected when companies get it wrong.'
The Sun
a day ago
- Business
- The Sun
Millions of customers to get up to £2,000 in water bill compensation from TODAY under big shake-up
MILLIONS of water customers are set to get up to £2,000 in compensation from today. New rules set by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) now require water companies to pay up to ten times more in automatic compensation. 1 Defra said the changes, originally proposed in December 2024, will make sure people are fairly reimbursed for supply problems and poor service. Automatic compensation is usually given to homes and businesses affected by problems like supply interruptions, sewer flooding, or low water pressure. Compensation rates have remained unchanged since the early 2000s - until now. Meanwhile, payouts for consistent low water pressure will jump to up to £250, a big increase from the old rate of just £25. Compensation for when water suppliers fail to turn up to appointments will rise from £20 to £50. The government is also working with water companies to expand the list of circumstances that will trigger compensation payments. Compensation for when customers are asked to boil their water due to contaminated supply will come into force later this year. Environment secretary Steve Reed said: "Too many water companies are letting down their customers - with leaking pipes, poor water supply and low water pressure. "The Government is holding water companies to account by making them put money back into people's pockets when they fail their customers." The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) and Ofwat support the changes. They believe higher payouts and broader rules will push water companies to provide better services. Mike Keil, chief executive of the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), said: "Customers expect to be treated fairly when their water company lets them down, so we're delighted the Government has moved at pace to strengthen service standards." "This should give people peace of mind they now have far stronger protection from a much broader range of water company service failures - from the slow installation of water meters to the mishandling of debt recovery. "As well as bolstering payments for thousands of customers, these changes mark an important step towards restoring trust in the water sector which is at an all-time low." These changes are part of a bigger government plan to improve the water industry. It includes tougher rules and possible criminal charges for water company bosses who break the law. At the same time, it is also banning unfair bonuses for executives at six polluting water companies. A record 81 criminal investigations into sewage pollution have been launched to tackle environmental damage. Plus, £104billion from private sector investment is being secured to upgrade old sewage pipes and reduce sewage by nearly half by 2030. The average annual water and wastewater bill increased by £123 in April, taking it from £480 to £603. Last month, The Sun revealed how millions of households are unable to get help with their bills through a vital scheme due to a key loophole. What water bill support is available? IT'S always worth checking if you qualify for a discount or extra support to help pay your water bill. Over two million households who qualify to be on discounted social water tariffs aren't claiming the savings provided, according to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW). Only 1.3million households are currently issued with a social water tariff - up 19% from the previous year. And the average household qualifying for the discounted water rates can slash their bills by £160 a year. Every water company has a social tariff scheme which can help reduce your bills if you're on a low income and the CCW is calling on customers to take advantage before bills rise in April. Who's eligible for help and the level of support offered varies depending on your water company. Most suppliers also have a pot of money to dish out to thousands of customers who are under pressure from rising costs - and you don't have to pay it back. These grants can be worth hundreds of pounds offering a vital lifeline when faced with daunting water bills. The exact amount you can get depends on where you live and your supplier, as well as your individual circumstances. Many billpayers across the country could also get help paying off water debts through a little-known scheme and even get the balance written off. Companies match the payments eligible customers make against the debt on their account to help clear it sooner. If you're on a water meter but find it hard to save water as you have a large family or water-dependent medical condition, you may be able to cap your bills through the WaterSure scheme. Bills are capped at the average amount for your supplier, so the amount you could save will vary. The Consumer Council for Water estimates that bills are reduced by £307 on average through the scheme.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Macquarie digs deeper for redemption at Southern Water. There was no alternative
Many took the view in 2021 that Macquarie should have been run out of town, rather than be allowed to own another English water company. The giant Australian financial outfit's former outing, remember, was at Thames Water from 2006 to 2017, which was when the absurd games of financial leverage began at the UK's biggest water company. The then-chair of Ofwat later told MPs he asked himself the question 'What do we do here, with that reputation?' when Macquarie made the best financial offer to rescue Southern Water. The deal was done eventually with Ofwat's blessing. Macquarie-managed funds injected £1bn to take control and its infrastructure boss declared in an open letter that the firm would be 'a responsible long-term steward of Southern Water and believes it can help the company deliver the transformation it requires'. Part of that statement – the bit about being in it for the long term – is clearly true. Macquarie is now rescuing Southern for a third time, in effect. An extra £550m was injected in 2023. Now its consortium (of which it and its managed funds are about 90%) is putting in up to £1.2bn in equity to recapitalise Southern's operating company. The process is convoluted since only £655m is binding; a further £245m is intended to follow by the end of the year and the balance of £300m depends of the outcome of Southern's appeal to try to secure bigger bill increases than the 53% allowed by Ofwat. But, in the shoes of the regulator or a fearful secretary of state, Steve Reed, you'd be breathing a sigh of relief. Their nightmare was the thought that the current refinancing crisis at Thames would spill over to Southern, the next most stressed operator. Instead, Southern should now have sufficient capital to get it through the current five-year regulatory period. Unlike at Thames, the fisticuffs with bondholders took place behind closed doors. Lenders are taking a write-down from £865m to £415m across the complicated holding company group structure in what is a mini debt-for-equity swap to supplement the new capital. Macquarie's approach to transparency didn't extend to giving a leverage ratio for the regulated entity in recapitalised form – a critical metric – but the ratio is obviously lower than it was before the deal. Yet the Australian attempt at watery redemption is not quite the upbeat tale of emerging success presented in Tuesday's announcement. The claimed 'good progress' with Southern's transformation plan requires a large helping of context. Yes, pollution incidents may be down by 40%, but the top executives are still on Reed's banned list for bonuses on account of spills. Meanwhile, the company got a two-star rating in the Environment Agency's last assessment report – better than the one star Macquarie inherited, but still equal bottom-of-the-table. Ofwat's separate performance scorecard noted that in 2023-24 Southern 'reported the largest percentage net underperformance payment for a fourth consecutive year.' Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Those regulatory reports are almost a year old, so maybe the next annual crop will provide evidence of the 'momentum' behind the turnaround. Until then, however, Macquarie has merely demonstrated it can cough up capital when there is no realistic alternative. On-the-ground operational delivery is what counts. There is a long way to go. If the exercise is costing more than Macquarie expected in 2021, sympathy may be limited.
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Southern Water owners to invest up to £1.2bn into troubled utility
The struggling UK utility Southern Water has secured investment worth up to £1.2bn in a deal led by its majority owner, Macquarie Group, that will help it avoid a breach of its regulatory licence. A consortium led by Macquarie has committed to invest £655m, with a promise of another £245m by the end of the year from existing shareholders and unnamed new investors. Southern could receive another £300m depending on the outcome of a legal appeal to increase the amount it can charge customers. Southern supplies Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with water and sewage services. It needed to raise cash in order to avoid a downgrade on its debt rating that could have resulted in a breach of its licence to operate from Ofwat, the sector regulator in England and Wales. Ofwat has allowed water companies to raise household bills steeply in order to invest billions of pounds over the next five years in infrastructure such as new pipes, water treatment works and reservoirs. Southern had already been allowed a 53% increase for its 4.7 million customers – the largest rise of any company – but it is appealing to the Competition and Markets Authority to charge more. Southern in February said it would raise £900m from investors and that it expected 'to conclude the process by the end of June 2025'. However, the process was only completed late on the last day of June after protracted negotiations between Australia-headquartered Macquarie and the holders of Southern's most expensive debt. Those creditors, the US investor Ares Management and the Australian investor Westbourne Capital, will have £415m in debt written off in exchange for taking part in the equity raise, according to a person close to the talks. Southern is the latest UK water company to face severe financial pressures, and had net debt of £6.2bn at the end of March 2024. Macquarie has previously faced intense criticism from politicians over its record of ownership of Thames Water between 2006 and 2017, when Britain's biggest water company built up large debts. Macquarie sold the utility to buyers who have since lost all their investment. Thames Water's creditors are negotiating with the government to avoid fines before injecting £5.3bn in new debt and equity that would see them formalise control of it – and avoid temporary nationalisation. Southern's parallel turnaround efforts had been complicated by its complex capital structure. Negotiations continued until Monday to agree the level of writedown on the debt. Sign up to Business Today Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning after newsletter promotion Securing the equity was crucial for Southern because it has already had its debt downgraded to 'junk' status by Moody's Investor Service, one of the trio of big credit rating agencies. Another of the three, S&P Global Ratings, has threatened to cut its rating if the equity raise is not successful. Ofwat requires an investment-grade rating from two of the big agencies. Southern is majority-owned by Macquarie via a Jersey-incorporated vehicle called Greensands Holdings. The consortium putting up the £655m also includes existing investors. Other minority shareholders include funds controlled by JP Morgan, UBS and Federated Hermes. Another consequence of the Moody's rating agency downgrade was that Southern Water was blocked from making payments to the debt holders. Southern said that it would commit to paying dividends during the 2025 to 2030 regulatory period.
The Guardian
23-06-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
The UK is getting drier. Could reusing greywater help?
Water shortages are no longer a distant threat. By 2055, in England alone, the public will face a shortfall of 5bn litres a day – a shortfall of such immensity it will require societal and cultural change, which experts argue needs to start today. Scientists have long predicted that the UK would not be immune to climate change-induced extreme weather. The evidence is all too clear now that our traditionally grey, mild and wet European island – which this weekend experienced a heatwave made 100 times more likely by the climate crisis – is already in the midst of a water crisis that will only worsen in years to come. The Environment Agency has said it expects water companies to save 60% percent of the 5bn litres a day shortfall by managing customer demand and reducing the 3bn litres a day they leak from their pipework. The remaining 40% would come from boosting supply, including through the construction of new reservoirs and water transfer schemes. David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, has recently urged people to cut water use by shortening shower times, collecting rainwater and turning off taps when brushing teeth. And last week, Affinity Water advised customers to cut water use with the same tips. While these are sensible ways to reduce individual household consumption, with public trust in the water industry at an all-time low as a result of Britain's rivers being flooded with sewage, it might be a hard message to land. What is so far missing is a strategic response from the government, the regulators and water companies to change behaviours and facilitate the reuse of rainwater as well as the greywater in our homes – the runoff from baths, showers, and washing machines – to properly tackle high water consumption. The average person in the UK uses 142 litres of water a day, compared with 78 litres a day in Slovakia – the lowest in Europe – and 300 litres per day in Switzerland (Europe's highest). While the government has a target under the Environment Act 2021 for individuals to cut their water use to 122 litres per person per day by 2037-38 – considered far too unambitious by many – the existence of the target is a mystery to most people because there has been no public information campaign, no social media outreach and no widespread household leafleting to explain the problem and encourage changes to our lifestyles to reduce consumption. Ofwat has been talking about a public information campaign for several years, and the Guardian understands that after many delays, a £100m campaign will be launched later this autumn. For their part, water companies are focusing bill payers' money on mega engineering projects to boost supplies, such as desalination plants, water transfers and new reservoirs, rather than investing significant energy into a strategic approach to make reuse a feasible option in our homes. Mark Lloyd, chief executive of the Rivers Trust, said rather than being seen as waste, water must be treated as a precious resource, managed as close as possible to where it falls as rain and appreciated for the critical role it plays in our economy, ecosystems and in keeping us alive. 'We cannot simply build and bulldoze our way to water resilience,' he said. Smart metres are considered the best way to cut household consumption because they provide real-time usage data, identify leaks and encourage behavioural change. Yet only an estimated 12% of households in England have smart meters fitted. Sign up to Down to Earth The planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essential after newsletter promotion In countries more used to drought conditions, holding on to water and reusing it is an established system. Rainwater collection and reuse, capture and reuse of greywater, are all tried and tested methods to reduce water consumption in countries such as Australia, Cyprus, the US and Japan. In Cyprus, one of the most water stressed countries in Europe, the reuse of greywater which comes from washing machines, basins and baths is reducing consumption in households by 50%. In Japan, the most common greywater reuse system in a home is a toilet with a hand basin set into the top of the cistern, which allows water from handwashing to form part of the refill volume of the toilet. Residential reuse projects for non-potable water – that is not suitable for drinking – can be found in every state of Australia. Alastair Chisholm, chief executive of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, said harvesting rainwater or greywater and reusing it to flush toilets could cut an individual's water use to 80 litres per person per day. He wants the government to set up a national rainwater management strategy and make it mandatory that new-build properties limit consumption to 80 litres per person per day via new pipes and fittings to enable rainwater or greywater reuse. Building regulations also need to change to mandate water efficiency to 80 litres per person per day in new homes, he said. 'We need to treat rainwater as a resource and asset to be valued and we need regulatory and policy change to do this,' said Chisholm.
