Danny slams 'insulting' Southern Water price rise

It has been reported that water companies have asked for bills to be made even higher than initially requested. Southern Water are leading the charge with an insulting request of an 84% rise.

In the latest Ofwat performance report, Southern Water was found to be “lagging behind” and performing poorer than their commitments on 9 out of 12 measures. Of most concern to people living in the Itchen valley, Southern Water not only failed to meet their commitments on reducing sewage leakage, but actually saw the problem get worse, making them amongst the worst performing of all water companies on sewage discharge in rivers.

The Friends of the Itchen Estuary campaign group has repeatedly raised concerns over E Coli concentrations in the Itchen, with little progress on tackling the problem from Southern Water.

Danny Chambers MP:

“So many people are dealing with a cost of living crisis at the moment. It is a disgraceful insult for Southern Water to request this ludicrous price increase all while repeatedly handing out enormous bonuses to the bosses."

"Southern Water needs to end their sewage dumping in the Itchen, the Meon and other local rivers and this government should block these price rises and the bonuses until they clean up their act”

“The Liberal Democrats are calling for Ofwat to be abolished and a new water regulator established with greater powers. Until then, the regulator must use their existing powers to crack down on large water bill rises. Danny Chambers has also called on the government to implement a ban on water company executive bonuses until sewage discharges end and leaks are fixed.”