Thames Water warns of a bill increase of more than 44% under new business plans

Troubled Thames water has put forward new plans to boost spending and investment in its network, but warned this could increase customer bills by 44%.

The group, struggling to survive amid a funding crisis, has proposed increasing spending by £1.1 billion and unveiled another potential £1.9 billion investment in its network as part of new business plans to regulator Ofwat .

The company – Britain’s largest water company, with 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley region – said its new business plan for the five years to 2030 would see spending rise to £19.8 billion, with the additional amount would be used for environmental projects.

But it added that the potential additional investment of £1.9 billion in its network would see average customer bills rise by a further £19 over the five years – on top of the 40% increase already forecast.

If Ofwat were to give the full plans the green light, customer bills would rise to £627 a year by 2030.

Chris Weston, CEO of Thames Water, said: “Our business plan focuses on our customers’ priorities.

“As part of the usual ongoing discussions regarding (the business plan), we have now updated it to deliver more projects that benefit the environment.

“We will continue to discuss this with our regulators and stakeholders.”

Thames Water has had to rethink its business plan in a bid to avoid collapse as it crumbles under the weight of £15bn of debt.

Investors have refused to pump in the money needed to close the funding gap and reports indicate the government is working on plans to effectively nationalize the water giant.

You might also like: The author tells Starmer to ditch the flag fetish and give voters something to be proud of

Related Posts