Severn Trent water faces £35.8m watchdog fine

Water watchdog Ofwat is proposing to fine Severn Trent Water a record £35.8 million for providing false data and for poor customer service.

Tim Wolfenden, Head of Home Services at uSwitch.com, the independent price comparison and switching service, comments: “The priority here is to ensure that consumers are not left out of pocket and Ofwat seems to have this well in hand. The regulator has made it clear that shareholders rather than customers will be footing this bill. Moreover, it seems that Severn Trent has also done the decent thing by saying that it is going to reduce customer bills by £2.40 per household to ensure that it isn’t seen to be profiting from its actions.

“However, I would like to see Ofwat go one step further and prescribe what should be done with the fine – it would serve everybody’s interests best if this £35.8 million fine was invested directly into improving our worn out water systems.”