Ofwat has today welcomed Thames Water’s agreement to pay a package worth £86 million to customers and the communities it serves, following Ofwat’s investigation into the company’s reporting of sewer flooding data in 2010.
Thames has committed to a reduction in its regulatory capital value (RCV) of £79 million, which will benefit customers for years to come. Thames will also give back £7 million to customers and the community. Thames will:
- put an additional £2 million into its independently managed Thames Water Trust Fund, to assist customers who are having difficulty paying their bills;
- invest £5 million to support additional community projects such as local programmes to better protect rivers and improve the natural environment;
- and accept a reduction of £79 million from its RCV.
This will result in lower bills for Thames’ 14 million sewerage customers for years to come. Ofwat’s investigation related to Thames misreporting the number of properties at high risk of sewer flooding between 2005 and 2010. This meant that more properties were recorded as at high risk of sewer flooding than there was evidence to support.
The misreporting may have led to poorly targeted and inefficient spending of customers’ money. But there was no evidence of deliberate misreporting, and Ofwat is satisfied that Thames’s approach did not put any homes at risk of sewer flooding, and that its programme did reduce the risk of sewer flooding at the homes of a large number of its customers.
Ofwat said it welcomed Thames’s recognition of the problem and a commitment to put it right by returning money to customers. It also recognises that between 2005 and 2010 the company spent an additional £20 million of its own money to help deal with sewer flooding problems, and this money has not come out of customers’ bills. Since 2010, it has also taken steps to avoid such a problem recurring and it has been able to demonstrate to Ofwat significant improvements in its sewer flooding reporting processes.
Cathryn Ross, Chief Executive of Ofwat said:
“We welcome Thames’s co-operative approach which means we have concluded our investigation more quickly and resulted in a better outcome for customers. “We are satisfied that Thames has put right the problems that caused the misreporting. It’s only fair that when companies make mistakes, they put it right and make sure customers are not out of pocket.”
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.