Thames Water hit with fresh blow as company faces investigation

Thames Water is being investigated aft it delayed biology betterment schemes (Image: Getty)

Thames Water is being investigated aft it delayed biology betterment schemes, the manufacture regulator has announced.

Ofwat, h2o regulator for England and Wales, says the enforcement lawsuit against the institution aimed to find whether it has breached its obligations successful failing to present 100 retired of 812 schemes it was expected to enactment successful spot betwixt 2020 and 2025.

The UK’s largest h2o institution is presently grappling with a £19bn indebtedness heap and has warned it volition tally retired of wealth arsenic aboriginal arsenic March.

Laden with debt, Thames Water is presently seeking support from the tribunal for a restructuring woody with existing creditors that would supply £1.5bn successful contiguous financing, perchance rising to £3bn, to stave disconnected illness by the extremity of March.

Laden with indebtedness Thames Water is presently grappling with a £19bn indebtedness heap (Image: Getty)

The watchdog said the company, which takes attraction of h2o for 16 cardinal people, had been successful interaction to alert it and the Environment Agency that it volition improbable present much than 100 of the 812 improvements it had promised by a March 31 deadline.

The regulator issued Thames Water a informing that they volition usage their "full scope of powers" to clasp the institution to relationship if obligations are recovered to beryllium breached.

Lynn Parker, Ofwat's elder manager for enforcement, said: "Customers person paid for Thames Water to transportation retired these indispensable biology schemes.

"We instrumentality immoderate denotation that h2o companies are not gathering their ineligible obligations precise seriously. Therefore, we person launched an probe to recognize whether the delayed transportation of biology schemes means that Thames Water has breached its obligations.

"If we find crushed to act, we volition usage our afloat scope of powers to clasp Thames to relationship for immoderate failures and volition necessitate them to enactment things right."

The regulator has the powerfulness to good the applicable portion of the concern up to 10% of its yearly turnover.

Last December Thames Water was slapped with a £18m good for breaking shareholder payout rules.

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We enactment Ofwat’s determination to unfastened an enforcement lawsuit into the delayed transportation of Winep7 and volition cooperate fully. Customers volition not wage doubly for concern that has already been funded done lawsuit bills.

"We’ve been precise unfastened astir the challenges of delivering each the elements of our Winep7 programme, which has been impacted by outgo increases that are higher than the ostentation scale applied to our allowances. We informed Ofwat of this successful August 2023. We stay committed to delivering each our Winep commitments.”