Thames Water boss warns people with bigger gardens could pay more

Water chief also says ‘progressive charging system’ should be considered

Households with bigger gardens could be charged extra for their water because they are likely to use more, the boss of Thames Water has said.

Cathryn Ross, Thames Water’s interim chief executive, suggested that higher-income families should pay more in a bid to improve Britain’s failing utilities.

“We’re looking for proxies for relatively high-income households,” Ms Ross told Bloomberg. “One of those proxies might be big gardens, and therefore high levels of water use.”

The comments by Ms Ross, the former boss of water regulator Ofwat, came following an appearance in front of the London Assembly environment committee where she said that a “progressive charging system for water” might also be considered.

Thames Water, the country’s biggest supplier, has around 15 million customers across London and the Thames Valley.

“I think that might unlock the ability for us to put up water bills for those people who can pay while not putting up quite so much for people who can’t,” she said.

She also appeared in front of the Commons environment committee on Wednesday morning, where she claimed that customers were being charged less than they should.

Ms Ross took over Thames Water last month after the exit of former boss Sarah Bentley after just two years.

Cathryn Ross speaks at the Commons environment committee (PA)

She was forced to give up her bonus after the company’s environmental and customer performance suffered.

Thames Water had been found to have discharged raw sewage into rivers where it operates.

It has also come under intense scrutiny in recent years because of its bad record on leaks, sewage contamination, executive pay and shareholder dividends.

Despite giving up her bonus Ms Bentley, netted £1.6m in pay and compensation.

Thames Water hit the headlines again at the end of last month after it emerged that the government and regulators were drawing up contingency plans for the water supplier’s collapse.

Ministers and Ofwat reportedly started talks about putting Thames Water into special administration. The firm had debts of around £14bn.

Thames and other water companies recently warned that bills could go up by as much as 40 per cent next year to deal with the sewage crisis and climate emergency.