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    HomeBusinessDrinking water is becoming more expensive for 16 million Brits

    Drinking water is becoming more expensive for 16 million Brits

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    Utility wants to reduce debt
    Drinking water is becoming more expensive for 16 million Brits

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    The price of water in Great Britain has been kept low for years, claims the indebted supplier Thames Water. For 16 million customers, the vital resource is now becoming much more expensive. The company's debts are also based on penalties for environmental crimes.

    The largest water company in Great Britain, Thames Water, with 16 million customers in London and southern England, wants to increase its prices by more than 50 percent in the coming years. Cost savings ordered by regulator Ofwat were “unsustainable”, the private company said. This deters investors.

    Thames Water is heavily indebted and is also criticized for “routinely” dumping wastewater into rivers and the sea. The company has been under the supervision of Ofwat since July, which appointed an independent auditor. The company is owned by a consortium that includes a British and a Canadian pension fund. The British water supply was privatized in 1989.

    Thames Water boss Chris Weston said the company would use the higher water prices to invest in its pipes and sewage treatment plants and to make improvements to households and the environment. Customers now have to pay for the fact that the main goal for years was to keep prices low. Weston also announced an improved social tariff – more households would benefit from this than before.

    However, Ofwat had already rejected an initial proposal from Thames Water to increase prices by 44 percent and called for cost savings.

    At the beginning of August, the authority also announced fines worth millions for three water suppliers – including Thames Water. The companies had not disposed of wastewater properly for years. Large parts of the sewage system in Great Britain date back to Victorian times.

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