Northumbrian Water has posted a profit of £150m on turnover of £756.9m for the financial year ended 31 March 2013, its full-year results show.

Profit increased from £142.5m last year while turnover grew nearly £30m compared to 2012. The increase in turnover reflected the application of Ofwat’s 2009 price review of 0.9% plus 5.2% RPI on water and sewerage charges, Northumbrian said.

Operating costs increased to £427.6m (2012: £410.2m), reflecting increases in business rates, depreciation, infrastructure renewals and general inflationary pressures, partially offset by the benefits of an efficiency programme, the water company said.

Capital investment in the regulated business for the year was £232.9m. Investment in the Abberton Reservoir enhancement project continued and is expected to be completed this year.

During the year, the company invested £1.2m (2012: £1.1m) in research and development. Examples of innovative projects that have been implemented in the year include the use of ‘ice-pigging’ to clean large mains more quickly than conventional methods and the construction of the world’s first commercial reed bed to receive sludge from the water treatment process.

Northumbrian has also finished its second advanced anaerobic digestion (AAD) plant at Howdon, making it the first UK wastewater company to use 100% of the sludge remaining after sewage treatment to produce renewable energy.

Chief Executive Officer, Heidi Mottram, said:

“Overall, our performance has been very pleasing, although we continuously strive to do better. I am delighted that we have further improved the service we provide to our customers in a number of areas. Most notably, our customer experience score and supply interruption performance have both improved significantly. We also continue to have industry-leading sewage treatment performance, a position we have held for a number of years.”