Thames Water Applies For Price Hike

Thames Water have applied to water regulator Ofwat to charge customers a one-off surcharge of £29 pounds. Thames Water claim that they have been forced to deal with "unquantifiable" costs that they were not aware of when Ofwat set price limits back in 2009.

The increased costs include:

• Increases in bad debt as a result of the economic downturn
• Increases to Environment Agency charges
• The costs of operating and maintaining the additional 40,000 km of sewers that were transferred to Thames Water by the government in October 2011
• Costs of land acquisition and other preparatory work required for the construction of the Thames Tideway Tunnel

In the real world, companies that are eager to maintain/increase their profits seek to improve customer service, undercut the competition (ie charge less) in order to attract more customers and cut their cost base. In the delusional world of water supply, Thames Water simply opt for the easiest option namely that of charging their hapless customers more for their water. Ofwat will make its decision within 3 months.

There is of course another option, outwith cutting their cost base, they could reduce the dividends paid to their shareholders.

Will they do this?

Will they fark!

Charges Up

"Thames Water said this week that it is pushing up water bills by 17%, it was accompanied by the usual stuff about overhauling our Victorian pipes. Thames Water is owned by Macquarie Bank, known as Australia's "millionaire factory" – an antipodean version of Goldman Sachs. I think we can guess where the money will trickle to."

Source The Guardian

Customer Care - Not!

Sent to Thames Water "customer services" and their CEO on 17 May. Needless to say, no one has bothered to answer:

"4 March 2009 you wrote to me advising that you owed me £120.74, and requesting that I ring you to obtain the credit.

26 March 2009 I rang and gave all necessary information, eg bank details, I was advised that the credit would be processed.

16 May 2009 I received a letter from you referring to my call of 26 March, asking for my utility bills.

16 May I rang your offshore third party "help" centre to ask why it took over 8 weeks to query the call I made in March, and why the credit had not been paid.

I asked 3 times as to why it took 8 weeks to send the letter, the first two times your "help" centre operative claimed to be looking up the details; the third time I asked she deliberately cut me off (note I know the difference between an accidental cut off and a deliberate one).

Please answer the following:

1 Why is there over an 8 week gap between my call and your letter?

2 Why do you need utility bills to process the credit repayment?

3 Why did you not ask for these when I called in March?

4 Why have you not credited my bank account with the money you owe me?

You have 24 hours for someone based in the UK (not your foreign third party call centre) to take ownership of this problem, to come back to me and resolve it to my satisfaction.

Failure to do so will result in me adding this story to my site www.thameswaterisshite.com I will also advise my many contacts in the media as to your incompetence.

BTW, do you really think that outsourcing your "help" centre to a disinterested, incompetent foreign third party really improves customer "care"?

The clock is ticking."

Thames Water Faces Record Fine

Thames Water could be fined a record £12.5m by industry regulator Ofwat for misreporting and poor customer service.

The water company faces a £11.1m fine for misreporting regulatory information and a further £1.4m fine for poor processes and systems that led to customers receiving unsatisfactory services.

Ofwat chief executive Regina Finn said: "Water is a monopoly business and until we see a competitive market developing, Ofwat must protect customers by regulating the companies' prices and quality of service.

advertisement"To do this we need complete, accurate and reliable information. Misreporting of information damages our ability to regulate the industry and therefore to protect customers."

The news is likely to be cheered by consumer groups which have spent the past year attacking water companies for failing to meet leakage targets while making huge profits.

Water bills have increased by seven per cent this year - well in excess of inflation - to take the average water and sewerage bill to £312 in England and Wales.

The proposed fine follows Ofwat's investigation last year into Thames Water's reporting of its customer service performance.

The regulator said that Thames acted responsibly by informing Ofwat of the misreporting, taking steps to investigate the situation itself, co-operating with the review and reimbursing customers the amount they should have received following poor service by the company in the past.

Ofwat stressed that there is no evidence of fraud by Thames Water, Britain's largest water company, and that the investigation did not find any evidence of deliberate misreporting.

Thames Water said the proposed fine was "totally disproportionate", and revealed plans to challenge it.

Ofwat said: "The proposed fine is appropriate given the seriousness of the misreporting and customer service failures by Thames, while also being fair and proportionate and taking account of the steps Thames has taken to remedy the situation."

Source The Telegraph

Mayor Submits Appeal Against Thames Water

London Mayor Ken Livingstone submitted an appeal to the UK High Court against Thames Water Utilities' proposed desalination plant in Becton, in the east of the capital.

Livingstone is appealing last month's approval to build the facility, saying the government didn't give "proper consideration to the Mayor's case" and hasn't properly examined alternatives to the plant, the mayor's press office said in an e-mailed statement today.

"Thames Water should be fixing more leaks rather than finding expensive ways to spend Londoners' money on making fresh water," Livingstone said in the statement.

"Adding 200 million pounds to Londoners' water bills to spend on technology more appropriate for the desert is simply a disgrace. I cannot sit back and allow this to happen."

Source Reuters