Southern Water to pay £20m in fines

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

The firm's shareholders will bear the entire cost of the fine, which will not be passed on to customers.

Southern Water systematically manipulated information to conceal its true performance, industry regulator Ofwat said.

Southern Water, which provides water and waste-water services to nearly two million households in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said it accepted Ofwat's fines.

The firm misreported its customer service performance to the regulator over a period before October 2005. It also failed to make compulsory compensation payments of £25 to customers over poor service, known as guaranteed standard payments.

Ofwat chief executive Regina Finn said: "Southern Water behaved unacceptably in deliberately misreporting customer service performance to Ofwat and systematically manipulating information to conceal its true performance over an extended period of time and the company has acknowledged this."

The fine follows a two-year investigation which was sparked in October 2005 when Southern Water's new management team discovered irregularities.

They found incorrect figures had been reported to Ofwat relating to the firm's response times to customers who had contacted its customer service centre.

The £20.3 million penalty is made up of two fines imposed by Ofwat - one for Southern Water's misreporting of customer service statistics and the other for its failure to make guaranteed standard payments.

Southern Water chief executive Les Dawson said: "(This) announcement draws a line under a shameful period in the company's history when an area of the business was deceiving our customers and the regulator. The new management team has put procedures into place to ensure this will never happen again and once again we apologise to our customers."