Thames Water to get green light to hike bills by more than a third by 2030
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Exclusive: long-awaited decision by water regulator Ofwat falls short of utility’s requested 59% rise. Troubled Thames Water will be allowed to increase customer bills by just over a third by 2030 after a decision by the industry regulator, the Guardian has learned.
Ofwat is poised to announce on Thursday that the heavily indebted company, which serves 16 million consumers in London and the Thames Valley area, will be permitted to raise bills by just over half the level the company had demanded. Ofwat will allow Thames to raise bills by more than 33% over the next five years, far less than the 59% the company had requested, sources said.
The decision does, however, represent a softening in stance from Ofwat which had said in July that its preliminary view would be to allow Thames to increase bills by 22% , equivalent to a £99 increase to £535 by 2030. Thames later said that, if it was not allowed to raise bills by 59% – £228 a year by 2030 – it “would also prevent the turnaround and recovery of the company” as relations between Thames and Ofwat appeared increasingly strained.
The company is also poised to receive a fine from Ofwat for two payments it made: a £37.5m dividend in October 2023, and a further payment in March of £150m. This is expected to be far smaller than an Ofwat fine of £104m issued in August after an investigation into sewage discharges and would more likely be in the tens of millions, sources said.
