Southern Water customers boycott bills over sewage spills

The company has faced criticism and was hit by a £90m fine in 2021 for dumping raw sewage into the sea

Southern Water customers are refusing to pay their wastewater bills in protest at sewage spills by the firm.

Residents said they were boycotting payments inspired by Kent's Bob Geldof, who reportedly urged action in 2021.

Sussex resident Katy Colley said the group was considering legal action after law firm Leigh Day secured funding for households to make claims.

Southern Water said it was conscious of its impact on the environment and was investing £2bn over five years.

The company has been criticised over a series of sewage incidents and was last year named as among the worst performing companies by Ofwat.

In 2021, Southern Water was fined a record £90m for dumping raw sewage into the sea at 17 sites, including Bosham in West Sussex.

Ms Colley has refused to pay waste water charges on her Southern Water bill for the past five months.

She said: "I'm not going to pay for a service I'm not getting."

She said she had written to Southern Water, and contacted the Consumer Council of Water, her local council and the Environment Agency, and has put in a complaint to the Water Redress scheme.

"So far nobody has told me that I have to pay," Ms Colley said.

'Firm already penalised'

Katy Taylor, Southern Water's Chief Customer Officer said investment by the firm would reduce use of storm overflows, increase storage capacity and find ways to divert rain back to the environment naturally.

She said: "We are trying to balance getting this done quickly with keeping customer bills as low as possible, and will only move at a pace that is acceptable to our communities.

"Customers' bills also play a big part in helping us support our most vulnerable customers, who are going through tough times. This allows us to offer payment holidays, special tariffs, debt write-offs, bill reductions and grants for household items."

An Ofwat spokeswoman said Southern Water's customers had been compensated £28.3m under what were called under-performance payments, published last November.

She said: "The effect of the penalty is that the upper limit on the amount that Southern can collect from customer bills for 23/24 is £28.3m lower than it would otherwise have been. So customers will have seen this reflected in their bills, even if not explicitly labelled as such."

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