No pay no water supply in the future!
Thames Water has today opened something of a hornets nest with a radical new plan forwarded to the water regulator. If the company is given the go-ahead, it will see powers invested in UK water companies which would allow them to reduce water supplies to homes which are persistent non-payers of their bills. This completely goes against all UK regulations and laws which ensure that water is supplied to every home in the UK no matter what level of bills outstanding.
While there is no doubt that UK utility companies, such as Thames Water, have benefited enormously over the last few years there have been signs of significant increases in bad debt provisions. While the restriction of water supplies to those who have not paid their bills may seem a little excessive to some, what option do the water companies have when they have potentially hundreds of millions of pounds of unpaid bills outstanding?
The company has also written to MPs to back up its claim although we have yet to see any official response from the regulator. It is highly unlikely that the regulator will adopt these suggestions in full but there may be some increase in powers for water companies where particular homes are constantly failing to pay their bills.
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