Water firm rejects MP's call for renationalistion

Regan Harris addressed questions about Anglian Water's performance and future on BBC Radio Norfolk

The largest water company supplying the East of England has defended its position as a private firm after an MP's call for the government to renationalise it.

Anglian Water has faced criticism for its profits despite being given a two-star rating for its performance by the Environment Agency earlier this year.

Norwich South's Labour MP Clive Lewis said the situation was an "absolute shambles".

However, Regan Harris, from the water company, said: "Burdening the tax payer with having to pay for the water network isn’t the right thing to do."

Norwich South MP Clive Lewis is critical of water companies' performances

Anglian Water, based in Cambridge, supplies parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Rutland and Suffolk - as well as Hartlepool in north-east England.

It was one of many state-owned water companies privatised by the Conservative government in 1989.

In July this year, an assessment carried out by the Environment Agency documented 307 pollution incidents and a further 11 serious incidents in 2023.

The firm was forced to pay a £37.6m penalty for failing to meet performance measures around leakages, supply and reducing pollution.

Lewis said the water industry needed to change.

"Leaving this critical national infrastructure - water - to the vagaries of the private sector, who have simply sucked it dry of money... is madness," he said.

"I think we need to take it back under public ownership.

"They’ve invested absolutely no private capital - none of their own money - into water infrastructure - all of that has come from our bills.

"[The public] are seeing the consequences of that in terms of sewage in our rivers, dead rivers, rivers that are pumped dry, the sea and bathing areas that no longer have the Blue Flags they once had."

Anglian Water is responsible for water supply and sewage services across the East of England and further afield

Anglian Water spokeswoman Regan Harris was on BBC Radio Norfolk as a "hot seat" guest and said privatisation of the water industry had driven up standards.

She said that included water lost in leakages dropping by a third and "world class" drinking water quality.

"We are getting a fair bit of flak at the moment for reasons that are understandable," she said.

"But when you think about what a renationalised industry would mean and how that would have to compete with other government priorities for investment, it’s hard to imagine that water investment would be top of the list."

Anglian Water was set up in 1989 to supply water and deal with sewerage

Ms Harris said the firm made a pre-tax profit of £133m and had invested close to £1bn in the region this year, with similar investment figures expected for at least the next five years.

In its annual report, the firm gave a different measure for the money it made - citing its operating profit as £337m.

Ms Harris said Anglian Water's next business plan would be worth about £9bn, which could only be made possible by private equity.

"They do expect a return for that but when we talk about wildly high dividends, that is a misconception," said Ms Harris.

"At the moment they would get the same return if they invested their money in a High Street bank."