The average bill will go up 36% but how much extra billpayers will be charged depends on what part of England or Wales you live in, and which water company supplies you. The sums are below what the firms had requested but not far off.
In 2023 there were over 582,000 discharges of untreated sewage into UK rivers, totalling over 3.6 million hours of pollution. The UK is consistently ranked as one of the worst countries in Europe for water quality, over three quarters of our rivers fail to meet required health standards and face multiple threats.
The poorly maintained sewage system uses Storm Overflows from treatment works, pumping stations and combined sewer overflows from the sewer network (CSO’s) to dump raw sewage into our rivers and lakes. Lack of investment by water companies means the existing infrastructure can’t cope, which leads to the dumping of sewage into our waterways on a regular basis.
Treated and untreated sewage is the greatest threat to river biodiversity and according to research causes more damage than runoff from farms (Ref. the combined effect of treated sewage discharge and land use on rivers; Albini, et.al.).
Severn Trent (FTSE 100 company)
Area From Bristol Channel to the Humber, and mid-Wales to East Midlands
Customers 4.6 million
Ofwat bill increase from £398 to £583 – up 47%
Company’s rejected proposal £612
Severn Trent price review 2025/30. Ofwat gave Severn Trent a thumbs up overall. It rated its business plan “outstanding” and will be allowed to spend £15bn, up from £8bn over the past five years – although still 5% below its request. Severn Trent’s investors appeared to welcome Ofwat’s decision: the company’s share price rose by 1.5%, while the broader market fell by 1%.
The average annual bill is currently £398. It will rise to £583 by 2030, a 47% (£185) increase. The company had wanted bills to go up to £612 a year in five years, a 54% increase.
Severn Trent Water. Further information on an ‘outstanding company’
Severn Trent (May 2024) has increased the money it pays out to shareholders despite planned hikes to bills and criticism over sewage leaks. The firm plans to pay shareholders £300m in dividends after pre-tax profits rose by a fifth to £201.3m.
Severn Trent (November 2024) nearly tripled its profits even as the FTSE 100 water company said it had failed to meet a drinking water risk standard. It’s profits before tax rose to £192m in the six months to the end of September, nearly triple the £71m it made in the same period last year. The failing in drinking water risk standard relates to the company’s site at Strensham, Worcestershire, Severn Trent said. It added that it expected “significant improvement” from next year because of “our biggest ever ultraviolet disinfection scheme”.
Severn Trent (November 2024) has paid £600,000 to a charity after human waste polluted a brook over a 1km (0.62-mile) stretch. An investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) found an “overwhelming” odour and a thick coating of sewage fungus covering the bed of West Meadow Brook, near Whitwick in Leicestershire, in September 2022. The EA said the company failed to operate a nearby pumping station properly, and the issue was not corrected for a few weeks. Severn Trent admitted failings and made an enforcement undertaking (EU) of £600,000 to the Trent Rivers Trust.
Severn Trent (October 2024) one of 2 of England’s biggest water firms dumped raw sewage into rivers across the country in suspected illegal breaches of their permits, despite being given the highest possible rating by the regulator for their environmental performance, the Observer revealed. Severn Trent and United Utilities were responsible for 1,374 raw sewage spills from sewage treatment works in apparent breaches of permits over a two-year period in more than 80 watercourses, according to an analysis of previously unpublished operational data. It is alleged the suspected illegal discharges were during dry weather or at times when the plants were not at operating capacity.
The two firms were both given the four-star rating by the Environment Agency this year for their performance in 2023. Over the past five years, the firms have paid out a combined £2.8bn in dividends to shareholders and millions of pounds in bonuses to bosses, with both repeat Its analysis found that Severn Trent had made 494 suspected illegal spills of sewage in 2021 and 309 in 2022 from 50 sewage plants.
Severn Trent (September 2024) has agreed to pay £327,500 to restore a waterway after a sewage spill killed the “vast majority” of its aquatic life. A blocked sewer polluted a 1.7km (1.05m) stretch of Dimore Brook in Quedgeley, Gloucestershire, in August 2021. An investigation by the Environment Agency (EA) found the incident killed hundreds of sticklebacks, several eels and thousands of insects. Severn Trent said the blockage had been caused by an accumulation of fats, oil and grease “incorrectly disposed of into the sewer by third parties”.
Water companies (July 2024) across England potentially broke the law thousands of times last year by dumping sewage without the legally required permits. An investigation has uncovered for the first time that over 5,500 sewage spills in England last year may have been illegal as they took place without permission from the Environment Agency (EA) watchdog, including at spots along iconic rivers like the Wye and Avon. Severn Trent currently has the highest number of outlets without a permit, with 191 unpermitted overflows responsible for 2,245 sewage spills in 2023.
Polluting water firms face ‘severe’ fines, ban on bonuses and criminal charges
Severn Trent (May 2024) Liv Garfield has defended her multi-million pound pay package despite sewage spills by the company rising by a third in 2023, she was awarded £3.2m in pay, bonuses and shares last year, while over the past four years she has earned nearly £13m. Severn Trent was responsible for more than 60,000 sewage spills last year which Ms Garfield told the BBC Today programme “doesn’t make me feel good”.
Severn Trent (February 2024) has been fined more than £2m for “recklessly” allowing large amounts of raw sewage to enter the River Trent. Its Strongford Treatment Works discharged more than 260 million litres of sewage, the equivalent of 10 Olympic-sized swimming pools, between November 2019 and February 2020.
An Environment Agency spokesman said the company was fortunate the incident did not cause catastrophic pollution in the Staffordshire river.
Water (Special Measures) Bill
Parliament UK: Water (Special Measures) Bill: call for evidence
| The Public Bill Committee will scrutinise the Bill line by line. The Public Bill Committee will meet for the first time on Thursday 9 January 2025 to consider the Bill and is expected to report by 5pm on Thursday 16 January. When the Committee concludes its consideration of the Bill it is no longer able to receive written evidence, and it can conclude earlier than the expected deadline of 5.00pm on Thursday 16 January 2025. |
The Bill has four key aims:
- block bonuses for water company executives “who pollute our waterways”
- bring criminal charges against “persistent law breakers”
- impose automatic and “severe” fines for wrongdoing
- enable independent monitoring of every sewer overflow outlet
Reed said the government was already bringing in new rules ring-fencing money for investment, as well as handing Ofwat the power to ban unfair bonuses and introduce personal criminal liability for water executives responsible for pollution. A commission has also been ordered to draw up the “biggest reset in 35 years”.
With climate change having long been predicted to bring higher rainfall levels this may be a start, but a far cry from what’s required.
