Southern Water customers could be paying an extra £320 a year by 2030
Some 2.6 million people could see their water bills rise by hundreds of pounds in the coming years under plans floated by Southern Water.
The company, which serves Sussex, Kent, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has repeatedly been accused of underspending on infrastructure by authorities and fined more than £200 million for sewage mismanagement.
It’s currently researching proposals to hike the average household bill to £759 by 2030 – an increase of £320 on this year’s average of £439.
According to leaflets handed out at a focus group, bosses only expect a quarter of this increase (£82) to required by inflation.
Customers would be told the rest is needed to fund investments in the water network, with the company claiming the vast majority of this is ‘required by the regulators’.
Water regulator Ofwat accused Southern Water of severe underinvestment when it fined the company £126 million in 2019 over ‘shocking’ failures at its sewage treatment sites that polluted rivers and beaches across southern England.
The Environment Agency fined Southern Water another £90 million in 2021 for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into protected seas.
The behaviour was described as ‘very serious widespread criminality’ done to avoid financial penalties and the cost of upgrading infrastructure.
Southern Water said the options shown to focus group members were not final but part of a wider programme of research.
They would provide discounts of at least 45% to around 125,000 of the lowest income households.
A ‘least cost plan’ is also on the table that would save each household £10 over the next seven years by sacrificing some of the improvement works on sewage spills, flooding and climate adaptation.
Katy Colley, from the group Hastings Boycotts Southern Water, said the proposals were a ‘disgrace’.
She said: ‘Southern Water has had years to put their house in order and make the necessary investments from the money they collect from our bills; instead they paid out millions in dividends, executive salaries and bonuses.
‘Now they want us to pay all over again for the works they should have already done. It’s a disgrace and we are certainly not going to pick up the bill for their greed.’
Katy Taylor, chief customer officer of Southern Water, said: ‘We regularly listen to the views of customers from across our region when we plan future investment in our network, and we discuss the possible impacts on bills.
‘We know our communities want to see us investing to improve our environmental outcomes and to do it wisely, but we also recognise the concerns about rising payments in the face of a cost-of-living crisis.
‘This is why it is important we work together with our communities, in finding the right balance.’
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