Ofwat has been accused of not acting quickly enough to issue fines against water companies for sewage dumping. The regulator, which has the power to fine water companies 10 percent of their annual turnover, said firms had agreed multi-million pound compensation and investment packages in lieu of paying fines to The Treasury.
If Ofwat suspects a company of rule-breaking it will open an enforcement case and announce its intention to fine the firm, however this has rarely resulted in significant penalties. Severn Trent and Welsh Water, both of which were for £1. Neither of these fines were issued in relation to sewage dumping. Thames Water was fined £1 in 2021 after Ofwat found the firm was responsible for data errors that led to some customers being charged incorrectly. Ofwat originally threatened Thames Water with a fine equivalent to one per cent of its turnover, but reduced this to £1 after Thames agreed to a £11.3m compensation package for affected customers, which is equivalent to three per cent of its turnover. In 2024, Welsh Water was fined £1 after it was found to misreport its data on leakages over several years. Ofwat originally proposed a penalty equivalent to 4.5 percent of turnover (around £15.2m), but reduced this to £1 after Welsh Water proposed a compensation and investment package that Ofwat said was worth £73m to customers. Nick Measham, chief executive of the campaign group WildFish, said: “Law breaking can occur almost every day yet not only are the fines pathetic they are almost non-existent. “Ofwat failure to hold water companies to their statutory duty not to dump sewage in anything other than exceptional conditions – which have been in existence since 1994 – is appalling.as public anger has grown over the amount of raw sewage being dumped into Britain’s lakes, rivers and sea
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