Thames Water has been fined £122.7m for breaching rules relating to its wastewater operations and dividend payments.
It is the biggest ever penalty issued by the water regulator Ofwat. The regulator said the fines followed its biggest and most complex investigation and confirmed it would be paid by the company and its investors, not by customers.
A Thames Water spokesperson said: “We take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously.”
The fine issued by the water industry watchdog has ordered Thames Water to pay a £104.5m penalty for breaches of rules connected to its wastewater operations. That is on top of an additional penalty of £18.2m for breaches relating to dividend payments.
It comes as Thames continues to face heavy criticism over its performance in recent years following a series of sewage discharges and leaks. The company is also struggling under a huge £20bn debt pile, but secured an emergency £3bn in March to stave off collapse.
The supplier serves about a quarter of the UK’s population, mostly across London and parts of southern England, and employs 8,000 people. It had expected to run out of cash completely by mid-April before it secured a rescue loan and the government has been on standby to put Thames into special administration.
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