The news has triggered renewed calls for public ownership.
South West Water received £450 million in government subsidies at the same time as it paid over a billion pounds to shareholders, it has been revealed.
According to data obtained by Democracy for Sale through a Freedom of Information request, the firm has been given an annual subsidy of £40 million per year since 2013. Over that period, over £1.5bn was paid out to the firm’s shareholders in dividends.
That subsidy has been used to pay the first £50 of customers’ bills. Despite this subsidy, South West Water’s bills are the second highest in England and Wales.
The revelation has led to renewed calls for England’s water firms to be taken into public ownership.
Campaign group We Own It told Left Foot Forward that the news showed that ‘water is broken in this country’.
Matthew Topham, lead campaigner at We Own It, said: “South West Water is vandalising our waterways whilst being propped up by the Government with huge subsidies. Nearly £0.5 billion in taxpayer cash has been pumped in, whilst £1.5bn has been sucked out in dividends over the same period.
“Any rational person would consider this a failed business model – at least for the customers and the environment. For the shareholders and executives, it’s working beautifully. A seemingly endless supply of cash that isn’t even disrupted by a measly £2m fine for sewage dumping in 2023.
“Our water supply is essential to life – the very definition of an industry ‘too big to fail’. Yet the Government is ruling out any move to bring it back into public ownership. Regulation doesn’t work, fines don’t work, public pressure doesn’t work. Water is broken in this country – the Government must intervene and put the public back in control of water.”
South West Water has been forced to pay millions of pounds in fines for sewage pollution in recent years.
Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward
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