A report in the Sunday Times on 27th February has claimed that water companies in England and Wales have overcharged consumers almost £1.7 billion for services they have not used.
The story is based on a report produced by SmartSource Water, a company which audits water bills. SmartSource Water’s Managing Director, Peter Kaye, is a former Operations Manager at Thames Water.
Mr. Kaye told the Sunday Times:
“Millions of customers have been overcharged hundreds of pounds over the years.
In many cases, the water companies know the they are charging for services that customers don’t even get but don’t do anything about it.”
During the last 18 months SmartSource Water has reviewed over 20,000 water bills.
The overcharging is apparently related to consumers wrongly being billed for the cost of rainwater running from their properties into public sewers. The report claims that an estimated 4.8M customers have been charged for “surface drainage” – despite the fact that run-off from their properties does not in fact discharge into water companies’ public drains.
In November last year SmartSource lost an appeal to the Information Tribunal which sought to require 16 water companies to provide billing records and other information under the Environment Information Regulations(EIR). Under the EIR, all public bodies must disclose data when requested, in a similar way to the Freedom of Information Requests. In March last year the Information Commissioner's Office ruled that water companies are not public authorities for the purposes of the Regulations - confirmed in November 2010 by the Upper Tribunal.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
ERG, the leading supplier of odour control systems and industrial gas cleaning & thermal systems, has been awarded the coveted King’s Award for Enterprise.
Welsh Water’s new artificial intelligence-driven tool, ORAI, has been shortlisted for three categories at the prestigious British Data Awards 2026 – underscoring the company’s commitment to using cutting-edge technology to deliver better outcome for customers.
Barhale has completed work on two separate Rapid Action Taskforce Spills projects it is carrying out for Severn Trent.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.