(by Verity Mitchell) The creditors’ rescue package for Thames Water, which is said to be near to agreement, has been thrown into disarray by the potential change in prime minister. Reports have suggested that civil servants are concerned that there is no clarity from the Government about the direction of travel for Thames, and that Defra officials believe that the leadership uncertainty may prevent acceptance of the London & Valley Consortium’s proposals. A government spokesm

(by Verity Mitchell) Severn Trent reported early success in earning a financial reward of £87m for its performance for the financial year to March 2026, and predicted a further £50m in the current year. This will be an achievement most of the other companies are unlikely to match so early in AMP8. Severn Trent also reaffirmed its target of £300m of regulatory rewards over the five year period. Pollution incidents fell by 35%, leakage by 5% and sewer flooding events by 12% (al

(by Karma Loveday) The King’s Speech last week included provision for a Clean Water Bill to reform the water industry. Campaigners have urged for the legislation to be progressed with urgency and deliver meaningful change. The Environment Agency has published its 2026-27 business plan, setting out its planned priorities for the year. Water quality and environmental pollution feature alongside other issues including waste crime and flood risk. As the 2026 bathing water season

(by Karma Loveday) Water UK has appointed an independent, not-for-profit organisation called Dispute Resolution Ombudsman to provide Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) services for household and business water customers in England and Wales. The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) previously provided ADR via a third party, but Water UK said that on 24 April, Defra instructed that this stop with immediate effect. On behalf of water companies and on Defra’s request, Water UK has

(by Karma Loveday) The Regulators Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) has given the green light for the White Horse Reservoir to proceed to planning. The scheme has cleared RAPID Gate 3, and been allowed £298m to continue work towards Gate 4, which includes applying for a Development Consent Order later this year. The White Horse Reservoir near Abingdon has a proposed size of 150m cubic metres, providing up to 271m litres of water supply per day for up

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat is consulting until 18 June on a monitoring and assessment framework to hold companies to account on their delivery against unprecedented levels of AMP8 investment. This will track each company’s progress against its delivery plan. These cover key items of expenditure including on storm overflow capacity, nutrient removal work, the smart meter rollout, mains replacement and supply interconnection. In total this work is valued at around £38bn over the

(by Karma Loveday) The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) reported a year of lows as it published the 2025-26 data for its Water Matters report, which has been tracking household customers’ views on water and sewerage services for 15 years. Among the findings highlighted by the watchdog from this year’s survey of 3,500 bill payers were: Thirteen water companies saw their customer trust ratings fall during the year, as the overall score for England and Wales dropped from 6.28 t

(by Verity Mitchell) The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has fined South Staffordshire plc and South Staffordshire Water £963,900 following a serious cyber attack that resulted in the personal information of 633,887 people being extracted and published on the dark web. The ICO said it exposed significant failures in the company's approach to data security and left customers and employees vulnerable for nearly two years. South Staffordshire’s cyber attack began with a

(by Verity Mitchell) There has been a flurry of public statements about utilities in general and water in particular from potential Labour leadership contenders and Labour think tanks. On 11 May, the Labour Growth Group published a paper, An honest day, in which it continued to advocate that Thames should enter special administration. It said: “Let Thames Water fail: If Thames Water cannot stand on its own obligations, it should enter special administration. Creditors take lo

(by Karma Loveday) Investment could be driven away from the UK if the Government and regulators don’t do enough to facilitate growth and innovation. That was a warning from the House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee in Time is money: how regulators can support growth, published last week. The report argued that a combination of unclear guidance from the Government, legislative restrictions and the need to balance growth with their other duties might result in regula