It is understood that one outcome of Ofwat’s review of the industry that began last summer is that it will seek new controls to limit excessive dividends paid to investors by England’s nine water and sewage companies.
Both Ofwat and the Environment Agency – which prosecutes companies for environmental breaches – have been criticised for lacking the teeth to punish water companies for, as well as failing to repair water leaks from its aging pipe network. The companies lost an average of 2.9 billion litres of water a day, equating to 1.05 trillion litres over the year or the volume or more than three and a half times the volume of Lake Windermere.
“We and other regulators will be monitoring them closely to make sure they make these improvements. Through our enforcement powers, our price review process, our annual reporting and more we will continue to ensure that improvements are sustained.”