• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Wednesday May 28 2025

Thames Water hit with record fine over sewage breaches

Thames Water has been hit with a record fine of £104.5 million for allowing sewage to spill into rivers.

Water watchdog Ofwat announced today (Wednesday) that it was fining the Reading-headquartered utilities firm a total of £123 million.

The fines, it said, would be “paid by the company and its investors, and not by customers.”

The £104.5 million is the largest penalty Ofwat has ever issued.

The fines tally included £18.2 million for breaking dividend rules. The firm paid out dividends to its investors – the first time Ofwat has used its powers to take enforcement action against a water company where their decision to make dividend payments does not properly reflect the company’s delivery performance for customers and the environment.

David Black, chief executive of Ofwat, said: “This is a clear-cut case where Thames Water has let down its customers and failed to protect the environment.

“Our investigation has uncovered a series of failures by the company to build, maintain and operate adequate infrastructure to meet its obligations.

“The company also failed to come up with an acceptable redress package that would have benefited the environment, so we have imposed a significant financial penalty.

“This decision provides certainty for the company for both its past failures and what we expect from the company to comply with its obligations in future.

“The company is seeking new buyers to fund its turnaround to provide better services for customers and the environment by improving operational performance and financial resilience.

“This provides a clear opportunity to break with the past, Thames Water will now need to correct the issues our investigation has identified.”

Environment secretary Steve Reed added: “The Government has launched the toughest crackdown on water companies in history.

“Last week we announced a record 81 criminal investigations have been launched into water companies. Today Ofwat announce the largest fine ever handed to a water company in history.

“The era of profiting from failure is over. The Government is cleaning up our rivers, lakes and seas for good.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously and note that Ofwat acknowledges we have already made progress to address issues raised in the investigation relating to storm overflows.

“The dividends were declared following a consideration of the Company’s legal and regulatory obligations.

“Our lenders continue to support our liquidity position and our equity raise process continues.”

Thames Water has 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley, including Swindon and parts of north Wiltshire.