Ofwat says the company will have to pay almost £123-million for breaching its sewage treatment standards and breaking rules related to dividend payments.
It’s after the firm avoided effective nationalisation by securing an emergency £3-billion loan.
Over 11,000 hours of untreated sewage was dumped into The River Mole last year.
Visiting the river this summer, Lib Dem leader and MP for Kingston, Sir Ed Davey, says the solution has to be a cross-party effort.
Luke Taylor, Lib Dem MP for Sutton and Cheam said:
“This was OFWAT’s chance to show it had some real teeth. Instead they have proven once again that they are utterly toothless. Maybe if they threw in a few more zeroes at the end, they might scratch the surface.
“After years of pumping toxic sewage into our rivers, prioritising profit over crumbling infrastructure and hiking our bills, Thames Water has shown it is not fit for purpose under its current leadership.
“OFWAT’s fine doesn’t begin to scratch the surface. A proper regulator would do what everyone knows must be done – put the company into special measures.
“The Government must scrap OFWAT, replace it with a serious regulator, and step in themselves to put Thames Water into special administration. That’s the only way we can turn that company back into one that serves the public rather than let us down over and over again.”
