Companies have the right to change business water supplier, but have you considered whether your company should do that and why that might be?
Some might think the only consideration is whether they can get the same service for less elsewhere, but price is not the only factor. You need a reliable supply of clean water and if any water firm frequently fails to do this, you will have good reasons to switch.
Another reason might be that the supplier in question has been guilty of multiple local pollution incidents. Even if this does not affect your company’s water, that could mean your local streams, lakes, rivers and beaches are being impacted, as well as your customers.
To switch in such circumstances is not just to take a moral stance, but to protect your company’s future. After all, if your supplier is careless enough not to prevent pollution incidents from occurring, can you be sure they won’t let you down at some point?
Why Is There A ‘Poo Protest’ Against Thames Water?
Despite recent legislation to toughen punishments for offenders, such as giving water regulator Ofwat the power to ban bonuses for directors of offending firms (doing so to the tune of £4 million in the first year), pollution incidents are still happening.
Among the water firms that have been in the dock far too often is Thames Water. The company has been at the heart of a series of bad news stories, from a plethora of pollution incidents to a financial crisis that has threatened the company with bankruptcy.
A consortium of investors has put forward a package to save the company, but it has asked for leniency over water pollution rules for a period of 14 years to aid its efforts to get the firm back on an even keel.
This has led to a sewage-related protest by campaign group We Own It, which wants the company to be nationalised, which features inflatable emojis. This took place by the River Dyke in High Wycombe.
Director of We Own It, Kat Hobbs, told the BBC: “We’ve got 14 giant inflatable poos and that is for each year of illegal sewage, and what we’re saying is, ‘look, this cannot carry on.”
Climate scientist Keith Dancy, who joined the protest, commented: “Thames Water charge us for wastewater, but what they’ve been doing with our wastewater is discharging it directly back into our streams and rivers”.
Thames was fined £122.7 million last year for breaches of sewage rules, although this cannot possibly account for all its debt, which stands at around £20 billion.
Is The True Level Of Water Pollution Incidents Properly Recorded?
Although Thames has been in the firing line more than any other company, the pollution problem is much more widespread, according to details of a freedom of information request made by Robert Forrester, a former Environment Agency staff member.
Referring to Mr Forrester as a whistleblower, the Guardian reported that his findings, featured in the Channel 4 documentary Dirty Business, included the following revelations:
- Of the 2,778 serious pollution incidents recorded in 2024, 2,735 were downgraded to ‘minor’.
- Only 496 of the downgrades occurred after inspections by Environment Agency officials.
- Most were reclassified based on the evidence submitted by the water companies themselves.
- Even with the large-scale downgrades, the total of 75 serious incidents recorded by the Environment Agency in 2024 was 60 per cent up on 2023.
The implication of this, according to Mr Forrester, who was an inspector for 21 years, is that the real level of serious pollution is often concealed, not least because water firms are “controlling our attendance.”
He added: “I saw it change from 12 to 15 years ago when we would actually get out on site, and we were encouraged to protect, investigate and enforce.”
This means that you may be wise not just to rely on Ofgem or Environment Agency action against local water polluters as evidence of water company failings, as it may be that for every incident listed as serious or leading to a punishment, others go under the radar.
Why Have South East Water Just Been Fined?
Of course, pollution may not be the only reason to switch supplier. The most recent firm to be fined by Ofgem was South East Water, which was hit with a £22 million penalty this month for repeated supply failures between 2020 and 2023.
The company is now facing a new investigation over another series of supply failures in Kent and Sussex between November last year and January this year.
Such failings will have affected domestic and business customers alike and provide another reason for firms to consider switching.
If your supplier cannot meet your needs or look after the environment, why not use our simple switching service to transfer to someone who will?
