Swindon residents react to £99 a year rise in water bills

Water regulator Ofwat says wants to limit the rise in water bills to £19 per year until 2030. But firms such as Thames Water claim this is not enough of a hike if they are to fix leaks in towns like Swindon. 

The amount is a third less than what water companies requested, and they believe the regulator had "got this wrong". Thames Water had originally proposed an increase of £191 by 2030.

With the proposed limit, customers will be facing an increase of £99 by 2030.

Crisis-hit Thames Water said it only has enough funds at the moment to operate until the end of May next year. It has requested financial leniency as it battles a debt mountain of £15.2 billion.

Water bills are set to increase in the UK (Image: Getty)

On the Swindon Advertiser Facebook page, commenters have responded to the news of a price rise and whether they would be happy with paying more money. 

Amanda Brooks said: "They've been making profit for years, paying shareholders and the big bosses bonuses instead of upgrading and preventing these leaks. They should be done for mismanagement.

"It's pointless the government trying to buy it, because all they will do is inherit a broken and defunk system while giving the fat cats billions to wash their hands of it.

There should be an investigation and some blame into why it's been run into the ground while making massive profits."

Elspeth Hughes said: "I think the shareholders should pay. If there is no profit how can there be money for bonuses and shareholder pay outs. So no.

"Privatisation does not work for the consumer."

Kathy Fletcher said: "Shareholders should realise that shares go up and down so Thames Water should not be paying them or bonuses to heads of departments until they have sorted leaks and sewage problems."

Rosemarie Compton was more willing, saying: "Yes, I would so long as the money goes on the leaks etc not on shareholders or pay to management as it seems to have done for years."

Sidney Ansell responded to Rosemarie's comment with: "I wholeheartedly agree, bonuses and dividends put to one side until all water problems solved."

Jackie Harris disagreed, saying: "No I would not be happy. Get the money back from big bonuses and money from shareholders that should be responsible for the mess there in."

Paul Parfoot said: "Why should our bills go up when they are getting loans to give shareholders? If they had used the money better they wouldn't be in trouble."

Bernice Procter said: "Well the share holders should pay something as well as the customers. The bonuses they get paid when things are going well they take do, if things are not going well then they can't have so much money it's a risk you take when dealing with investments highs and lows."

Martyn Pearce said: "Stop paying out such big dividends to shareholders and I'll think about it."

In making the announcement last week, Ofwat chief executive David Black said: “Customers want to see radical change in the way water companies care for the environment. Our draft decisions on company plans approve a tripling of investment to make sustained improvement to customer service and the environment at a fair price for customers.

“These proposals aim to deliver a 44 per cent reduction in spills from storm overflows compared to levels in 2021. We expect all companies to embrace innovation and go further and faster to reduce spills wherever possible.

“Today’s announcement also increases the resilience of our water supplies to the impact of climate change and will reduce how much water is taken from rivers by enabling a range of long-term water supply projects, which includes plans for nine reservoirs.

“Let me be very clear to water companies – we will be closely scrutinising the delivery of their plans and will hold them to account to deliver real improvements to the environment and for customers and on their investment programmes.”