Thames Water, the UK’s largest water and wastewater services provider, has been fined £122.7m (approximately $165m) for sewage spills and breaches in shareholder payouts.
The fine is the largest ever issued by British water industry regulator Ofwat, which confirmed the fines would be paid by the company and its investors, and not by customers who were hit with water bill increases last month.
About Thames Water
Thames Water serves approximately 15 million customers across London and the Thames Valley, representing about a quarter of the UK’s population, and plays a critical role in delivering essential water services that support daily life, public health, and environmental sustainability.
Thames Water extracts water from rivers and underground sources, treating and distributing around 2.7 billion litres of drinking water daily to nearly 10 million people. The company also collects and treats approximately 4.6 billion litres of wastewater each day from 15.5 million customers which is managed through 353 sewage treatment works and over 109,000 km of sewerage mains. Thames Water also generates renewable energy from biogas and sewage sludge, aiming for net-zero carbon emissions by 2030.
The company which employs about 8,000 people was only saved from bankruptcy after it managed to secure a £3bn rescue loan in March.
Details of Sanctions
Ofwat, said the company had “let down its customers and failed to protect the environment” by releasing raw sewage has the potential to significantly damage the environment and poses a risk to human health for those swimming in a river or sea where sewage is being discharged.
Ofwat said its findings suggested three quarters of Thames Water’s storm overflows were spilling “routinely and not in exceptional circumstances”.
It also fined Thames an additional £18.2m for breaches relating to shareholder payouts – known as dividends. One such payment worth £37.5m made in October 2023 to the firm’s holding company and another £131.3m dividend made in March 2024, were found to have broken the rules.
The regulator said the shareholder payouts were “undeserved” and did “not properly reflect the company’s delivery performance”. It is the first time the regulator has fined a water company for this reason.
