Water

Weekend press roundup: Sunak accused of ‘slyly’ reintroducing green levies

South East CEO apologises ahead of hosepipe ban

Smart meters needed ‘quickly’ to tackle water shortages

Thames seeks debt collectors

Thames Water will pay external debt collectors up to £17.5 million over the next three years to recoup unpaid customer bills. That equates to almost half of the company's current bad debt level, which stands at £36 million. 

Ofwat chair: Business plans must be better

Water companies have been urged to get their PR24 business plans right the first time round by Ofwat chair Iain Coucher who said the quality of PR19 submissions were below what he would have expected. He told company boards to make sure firms had the right teams in place for investment ambitions that are affordable and deliverable.

Farmland could be used to store millions of litres of water

Farmland has the potential to store up to 10 million megalitres of water per hectare, a study has shown. The work by Atkins to use whole farms as reservoirs was undertaken to address issues of winter flood risk and summer drought. By using geographic features and careful management water can be held back for use when and where it is required.

Southern: Bill hikes require visible performance improvement

The only way to stop public anger at bill rises is through visible and sustained performance improvement in areas that matter most to customers, Southern Water has told Utility Week. It comes after the company faced a public and media backlash to leaked proposals to raise bills by as much as 73% to fund future investment needs.

Digitisation shouldn’t cost the earth

Anglian halves sewer blockages

Water sector must end its ‘fix on fail’ mindset

Everflow CEO: Ofwat hasn’t given competition a chance

Water demand up 20% in Scotland

Weekend press round-up: Householders to receive money off bills for going green under Labour plans

NIC: Water efficiency policies do not go far enough

Designing service to boost trust