This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Ban water companies charging customers to upgrade the sewage network
The water companies are proposing charging customers to upgrade the sewage network so that raw sewage isn't pumped into the seas and waterways but they are paying out huge dividends to their shareholders. These profits should be used instead of charing customers even more.
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Customers should not be paying to cover these costs anyway but given the cost of living crisis and inflation being so high, it is completely unethical to force families into further financial difficulty to pay for an issue the water companies have been aware of for years but ignored in order to maximise their profits.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s about something that the UK Government or Parliament is not directly responsible for.
Decisions about price controls for water, which include the cost of investment in infrastructure, are a matter for Ofwat, not the UK Government or Parliament.
Under the Water Industry Act 1991, Ofwat has statutory duty to make sure that companies are able to finance the proper carrying out of their functions. In setting price controls Ofwat's aim is to allow for a return on capital that is no more than necessary for an efficiently run company to get the funding they need from capital markets.
You can find out more about Ofwat's price controls here: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/households/your-water-company/profits/
We've accepted the following petition which you may wish to sign:
Require water companies to pay a rebate when untreated sewage is discharged: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/636517
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.