Eight more water companies to be quizzed by MPs as part EFRA’s inquiry

The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has announced the schedule for its upcoming evidence sessions with water companies, as part of its ‘reforming the water sector’ inquiry.

The CEOs and CFOs of eight water companies will be quizzed by MPs in four evidence sessions across February and March. Each session will be an opportunity for MPs to question companies on their individual financial performance, environmental performance, service delivery and consumer satisfaction.

All of the Committee’s upcoming evidence sessions with water companies will take place in the morning on the following dates.

The Committee launched its inquiry in December, ahead of Ofwat’s price review announcement, which determined that customer bills will increase by 36% on average over the next five years.

In the first evidence session of its inquiry in January, the Committee took evidence from The Consumer Council for Water, Water UK, and Citizens Advice, before questioning the leadership of Southern Water.

Chair of the EFRA Committee, Alistair Carmichael MP, said:

“The water industry has attracted investment from financial institutions looking for low risk and high reward returns, without sufficiently prioritising the delivery of services to the public.

“There is huge public concern about the performance of water companies, which has only been made worse by high profile incidents such as water outages, sewage pollution and outbreaks of contamination in domestic water supplies.

“Our inquiry is investigating the deep-rooted problems underlying the industry, and we are now calling in major water companies to scrutinise their individual performance and hold them accountable for their provision of water services to the public.”