Thames Water: sewer flooding

Misreporting sewer flooding data

We investigated Thames Water’s recording of  the number of properties at high risk of sewer flooding between 2005 and 2010, and found that it had misreported. There was no evidence of deliberate misreporting, and Ofwat is satisfied that Thames’s approach did not put any homes at risk of sewer flooding.

Thames will:

• put an additional £2 million into its independently managed Thames Water Trust Fund, to assist customers who are having difficulty paying their bills
• invest £5 million to support additional community projects such as local programmes to better protect rivers and improve the natural environment
• accept a reduction of £79 million from its regulated capital value (RCV). This will result in lower bills for Thames’s 14 million sewerage customers for years to come

Key publications

• Notice of Ofwat’s imposition of a penalty on Thames Water Utilities Limited (22 July 2014)
• Notice of Ofwat’s proposal to impose a penalty on Thames Water Utilities Limited (5 June 2014)

Announcements

• IB 16/14: Ofwat confirms Thames Water’s package for customers (22 July 2014)
• PN 07/14: Thames Water pledges customer package worth £86 million (5 June 2014)