Jeremy Hunt calls Thames Water bill rise ‘utterly outrageous’ amid financial failures

Water bosses insist that without a 40 per cent increase in bills, the company will be ‘uninvestable’

The chancellor says Thames Water shareholders should fulfil their ‘obligation to sort out the mess’ (PA Wire)

Jeremy Hunt has said that it would be “utterly outrageous” to raise bills for Thames Water customers amid the company’s failures.

The chancellor instead said shareholders involved should fulfil their “obligation to sort out the mess”, and fund the business themselves.

Speaking at a public meeting in his South West Surrey constituency, Mr Hunt said: “I just want to say on behalf of my constituency, it would be utterly outrageous and totally unfair if we were made to pick up the tab for poor management and financial engineering by Thames Water shareholders.”

He was speaking alongside the head of watchdog Ofwat, who would have to grant the request, and the boss of Thames Water.

The utility company, which provides water and sewage services to around 16 million households, is facing immense financial difficulty.

Water bosses insist that without a 40 per cent increase in bills, the company will be “uninvestable”.

The troubled utility company provides water and sewage services to around 16 million households (PA Archive)

The issues intensified last week after its parent company, Kemble, failed to make an interest payment on a £400m loan.

Speaking to the Telegraph on the sidelines of the meeting, Mr Hunt said: “My constituents do not have an obligation to bail out Thames Water shareholders for their poor decisions and we got a clear commitment from Ofwat tonight [that] that won’t happen.

“I think Thames Water needs to behave in a responsible way and sort out this problem. I think they have an obligation to sort out the mess.”

The company has also been hit with several fines in recent years, with the Environment Agency charging it almost £36m between 2017 and 2023 for releasing untreated sewage into rivers.

Chris Weston, chief executive of Thames Water, told the Telegraph: “There are lots of things going on and moving. I am absolutely talking to Ofwat about my business case.”

Thames Water’s financial struggles worsened last month when the company said its investors had pulled a £500m funding lifeline that was due to be paid at the end of April.

Some of that was understood to be earmarked to pay loans owed by Kemble.

It follows reports earlier this week that two Chinese state-owned banks and Dutch bank ING are among a group of lenders who could play an important role in the stability of Thames Water.