| Topic: | Re:Stench of the Tories prevails.... | |
| Posted by: | Steve Taylor | |
| Date/Time: | 10/11/13 19:27:00 |
| It is pleasing to note in the Guardian that the historically toothless OFWAT has finally found its teeth and has again this week rejected Thames Water's request to raise water bills by 8%. "Thames Water's request to raise customers' bills by 8% in 2014 has been rejected by the regulator Ofwat. The regulator had already suggested it would block the rise, but gave Thames Water time to submit new evidence to back its case. Despite this it today confirmed it would not allow the rise. Its chief regulation officer, Sonia Brown, said: "We said we would challenge Thames' application in the interests of customers. We did just that and on the evidence provided we are not convinced an extra bill increase is justified." The regulator said it was unconvinced by the company's calculations on bad debts, slashing Thames Water's assessment of £75 million of extra costs due to "additional deprivation" to just £13 million. Ofwat's chief regulation officer Sonia Brown said: "We have looked at the details and do not believe the current evidence justifies an increase in bills." Thames said the biggest item was £273 million spent acquiring land for the Thames Tideway Tunnel, a major new sewer development.” Ofwat's decision means the maximum that Thames can add to customers' bills for 2014-15 is 1.4% above inflation, as set in a 2009 price review. Thames Water had asked for this limit to be increased, arguing that it had experienced changes in costs since the price review. The terms of its licence state that it can do this where costs can be shown to have increased by an amount equal to more than 10% of appointed business turnover, although this contention was rejected by the regulator." I hope that this ruling will finally convince the Hounslow Conservative Group and our MP that it is foolish to continually back this Company and cow-tow to its every whim. It seems clear to me that this Company just cannot be trusted to present accurate data. I hope too that Labour's PPC, Ruth Cadbury, can finally accept that the expansion of Mogden which was rushed through without proper consultation, so that Thames did not have to pay massive fines under the EU Directive, was a big mistake for which residents of Hounslow & Richmond Boroughs are paying dearly while the fat cats at Thames walk away with 'fat cat' bonuses. Residents expect their MP to show some strong leadership on Environmental issues on not sit on the fence whilst others pollute. The Environmental Protection Act is there for the Local Authority to enforce and it is high time our Local Authority was made to enforce it. |