Eleven water companies, including Thames Water, will be hit by financial penalties because of missed targets, the regulator Ofwat announced today.
Overall, the companies will have to return almost £150million to customers because of missed targets on areas such as maintaining constant water supply, pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding.
Oxfordshire customers will find their bills reduced from next year.
Thames Water and Southern Water were the worst performing companies on hitting their targets.
David Black, Ofwat CEO, said: “When it comes to delivering for their customers, too many water companies are falling short, and we are requiring them to return around £150million to their customers.
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“We expect companies to improve their performance every year; where they fail to do so, we will hold them to account.
"The poorest performers, Southern Water and Thames Water, will have to return almost £80million to their customers.
"All water companies need to earn back the trust of customers and the public and we will continue to challenge the sector to improve.”
The yearly targets, called performance commitments, are a combination of shared targets across the sector and bespoke individual targets on a wide range of issues.
Most water companies will be hit by financial penalties because of missed them, the regulator Ofwat announced.
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