The water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, has fined Thames Water almost £123m after two investigations into the company.
The watchdog has ordered Thames Water to pay a £104.5m penalty for breaches of rules connected to its wastewater operations, which is the largest penalty that Ofwat has ever issued.
That is on top of an additional penalty of £18.2m for breaches relating to dividend payments. It represents the first time Ofwat has taken action against a company that has paid dividends regardless of its performance.
The watchdog found Thames Water had caused an “unacceptable impact on the environment and customers”.
David Black, the chief executive of Ofwat, said: "This is a clear-cut case where Thames Water has let down its customers and failed to protect the environment. Our investigation has uncovered a series of failures by the company to build, maintain and operate adequate infrastructure to meet its obligations. The company also failed to come up with an acceptable redress package that would have benefited the environment, so we have imposed a significant financial penalty."
Thames Water said it takes its responsibility towards the environment “very seriously”.
A spokesperson for Britain’s biggest water company said: "We take our responsibility towards the environment very seriously and note that Ofwat acknowledges we have already made progress to address issues raised in the investigation relating to storm overflows.
"The dividends were declared following a consideration of the company’s legal and regulatory obligations.
"Our lenders continue to support our liquidity position and our equity raise process continues."
UK grocery prices are still rising – up 4.1% in the four weeks ending on 18 May, says the market research company Kantar.
That represents the highest rate since February 2024 and takes us into new territory this year, says Fraser McKevitt, the head of retail and consumer insight at Kantar.
London’s stock market is up slightly this morning, with the FTSE 100 blue chip index and the mid-cap FTSE 250 index up by about 0.2%.
The B&Q owner, Kingfisher, is languishing at the bottom of the FTSE 100, with its share price down 1.6%. It reported this morning that revenue in the first quarter rose by 1.6% to £3.31bn, better than expected, helped by warm weather in the UK.
The agenda • 8.55am BST: German unemployment data • 9.30am BST: ONS working and workless households data
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