Severn Trent Water fined £35m

Severn Trent Water have been fined £35.8 million following an investigation by Ofwat.

Water watchdog Ofwat found that Severn Trent had deliberately provided false information about its customer service performance record.

Severn Trent staff were found to have inflated the performance figures in areas such as response time to customer complaints. This meant that Severn Trent could charge customers higher rates for water provision than they were legally allowed to.

Furthermore, customers who filed complaints with Severn Trent were not receiving the compensation they should have been. Water companies are legally required to offer compensation if they take too long to respond to customer complaints.

Ofwat fined Severn Trent £34.7 million for the false reporting, equal to 2.9% of the company’s annual turnover. Ofwat is allowed to impose a maximum fine of 10% of a company’s turnover.

Ofwat also fined the company £1.1 million for poor customer service.

Severn Trent Water’s chief executive has said that the company has been completely reorganised since the misreporting was discovered. He also issued an apology to customers for his company’s failings.

In court Severn Trent has pleaded guilty to two charges of falsifying leakage figures, which were filed by the Serious Fraud Office. The company will be sentenced at a court hearing in the near future.