Water company failing 'spectacularly' says MP

Thames Water has come under continued scrutiny over its environmental record, customer service and its financial difficulties in recent years

An MP has said that the UK's largest water company has "already failed" his constituents "so spectacularly," and called on the company to make urgent improvements.

Will Stone represents Swindon North and was part of a group of MPs who met with Thames Water's director of corporate finance, Fred Maroudas.

Thames Water serves 16 million customers and was recently handed the largest fine ever given by the water regulator Ofwat - who said the company "let down its customers and failed to protect the environment".

The company said it is making "record levels of investment" in its networks.

"In Swindon North, I've heard from families dealing with problems which Thames Water have failed to resolve – flooding, sewage overflows, water outages, and more," said Mr Stone.

"Others have raised concerns about pollution in our local rivers, where the company have been pumping sewage," he added.

"My constituents are being asked to foot the bill for Thames Water's failures, with the average bill going up by 31 per cent this year, all while the company pays out millions to executives."

Thames Water has appealed for leniency over its fines and has previously asked for permission to increase customer bills by more than the regulators threshold.

The group of MPs presented Mr Maroudas with a letter signed by 27 Labour MPs that called on the company to take a number of steps - including dropping its appeal against Ofwat.

The letter also called on the company to claw back £2.5m of bonuses paid to senior executives in April and scrap plans to pay the same package again in December and instead reinvest the money into water infrastructure and commit to coming into Parliament by the end of this year to meet with MPs regarding their constituency casework.

"To take effective action it is worth talking to the people who are at the top of Thames Water," said Mr Stone told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

"There has been a lack of accountability in water companies in general and I want the public to know where their money is going, what its being spent on and if the infrastructure is being fixed."

After the meeting, Mr Stone said Thames Water had agreed to a scrutiny meeting with the Thames Water Watch group at Parliament in September.

A Thames Water spokesman described the meeting as "very constructive", and said: that "no executive directors have received performance-related pay this year."

"A management retention programme (MRP) was established as part of our liquidity extension with the objective of retaining senior management during a complex recapitalisation."

"We have paused its implementation," and "none of the retention payments have been funded by customers."

They said Thames Water's chief executive is not party to the MRP and has not received payments.

They went on to say that the company is making "record levels of investment" to "meet our commitments to customers and the environment."