Yorkshire Water among 11 water companies fined - what that means for customers in Sheffield

Eleven water companies in the UK, including Yorkshire Water, are being forced to give their customers huge discounts on their bills after missing targets.

In total, these discounts add up cumulatively to over £150 million, which will be given back to customers over the course of 2023 and 2024.

Yorkshire Water will have to pay £15.2 million to its customers, including those in Sheffield in the form of lower bills.

Thames and Southern Water received the highest fines at £51m and £28.3m respectively due to them “missing targets on water treatment works compliance, pollution incidents and internal sewer flooding across 2021/22 and will have to reduce customer bills accordingly,” according to Ofwat.

However, some water companies, such as Bristol Water and Wessex Water, are being allowed to charge their customers extra on their water bills after exceeding their targets.

Why is Yorkshire Water being forced to reduce bills?

Water companies are set pollution targets every year by Ofwat, regarding industry standards. Failure to meet these targets can result in large fines, which must then be paid back to the respective water company’s customers over a period of time.

As Yorkshire Water have failed to meet Ofwat’s targets this year, they have been subjected to fines.

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 poorest performers, Southern Water and Thames Water, will have to return almost £80m 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.”

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.”

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 - £15.2