Water companies criticised for passing £10bn sewage bill on to customers

theguardian.com:

The water industry’s promise to triple investment in the sewage system in England to reduce pollution and quell public anger should not be taken on trust, campaigners have said.

Clean water activists including surfers, swimmers and anglers criticised water companies for passing the £10bn bill for investment, which should have been carried out years ago, on to customers.

Anglian Water admitted that bills could rise by about £91 a year to fund the investment, saying: “The money does have to come from somewhere.”

Campaigners called for much tougher regulation to ensure that the promised investment in more than 350,000 miles of the sewage network would take place and would reduce pollution.

Feargal Sharkey, the former Undertones frontman and clean river campaigner, said customers would be paying again for investment that the companies should have been carrying out to fulfil their legal obligations. “We should have an apology for the suggestion they are going to put bills up by £10bn for their incompetence and their greed. This is nothing to celebrate,” he said.

Theo Thomas, of the group London Waterkeeper, said nothing should happen on trust alone. He said the industry was still pumping out false narratives that Victorian pipes were to blame, when two-thirds of London’s system was built after that time. “We need regulators to squeeze water companies so they have nowhere to hide. False narratives must be challenged. However much the monopolies choose to spend and add to our bills, we need an end to light-touch regulation. We need assertive scrutiny to make sure investment will see fewer sewer spills.”

England’s privatised water companies have paid out dividends of £2bn a year on average since they were given the utility debt free