Record profit water firm raises prices

Britain’s biggest water company, Thames Water, will tomorrow announce record profits of more than £610m while planning to increase by 17% above inflation over the next five years. The biggest single rise will come next year, when bills go up by 10.5%, with smaller rises in every following year, according to Thames Water’s five-year business plan. Despite the economic crisis, its profits were up almost 4% on last year’s £590m, the Observer has discovered. The proposal to increase bills so much during a recession is branded unacceptable by many customers. Thames Water says that higher bills are needed to fund a £5.5bn investment programme to construct two “super-sewers” to…

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