Yorkshire Water fined for failing to reach pollution targets - why customers will get reduced bills next year

Yorkshire Water is one of the UK’s water companies that has been hit by financial penalties because they did not reach their targets set by the water regulator this year.

Ofwat, the UK’s water regulator, announced on October 3 that 11 of the UK’s water providers will be hit with a bill totalling £150m because they didn’t reach their performance goals in areas such as water supply interruptions, pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding.

As a result, Yorkshire Water customers will see their bills being reduced accordingly over the next year.

A spokesperson for Yorkshire Water said: “The water industry is rightly held to very high standards by its regulator, Ofwat. Despite making improvements in a number of areas, we didn’t meet all of our performance commitments last year and have received a penalty from Ofwat.

We will return that money to our customers by factoring it in to next year’s water charges. Charges for 23/24 have not yet been determined, and are influenced by a number of different factors, including inflation and our performance.”

However, not all water companies have missed their targets. Better performers such as Severn Trent Water have exceeded their targets in areas like biodiversity which means that their customers will be charged more for their water bills.

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 £150m to their customers.

“We expect companies to improve their performance every year; where they fail to do so, we will hold them to account.”

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.

They were set in 2019 at the last price review and are in place up until 2025, when the next price review will come into place.

Full list of water companies being fined

• Affinity Water - £0.8m
• Anglian Water - £8.5m
• Dwr Cymru - £8m
• Hafren Dyfrdwy - £0.4m
• Northumbrian Water - £20.3m
• SES Water - £0.3m
• South East Water - £3.2m
• South West Water - £13.3m
• Southern Water - £28.3m
• Thames Water - £51m
• Yorkshire Water - £15.2m