Response to Jeremy Corbyn comments on the water industry

Responding to Jeremy Corbyn MP’s comments today (Friday 7 September 2018) on the water industry, Michael Roberts, Chief Executive of Water UK, said:

“As an industry we’ve invested £150bn since privatisation, which has helped to cut leakage by a third and improve services. Water companies have just announced plans to invest an extra £10 billion a year to improve the water network, cut bills in real terms, and reduce leakage even further - all based on the views of over 5 million customers. In making the investment needed by the industry to tackle the big challenges posed by climate change and an increasing population, it’s not clear that government-owned water companies would win the fight for taxpayers’ money every year in competition with health and education.”

On Monday 3rd September 2018, the water industry in England set out an ambitious new vision for the 2020s with the publication of A Manifesto for Water. It revealed plans for a major investment programme in services, a 16% cut in leakage, an over 4% real-term reduction in bills, and a 90% increase in help for people who struggle to pay. It also includes a new programme for helping the environment which will see 8000 km of rivers cleaned and improved.