Midlands and Wales water company Severn Trent has reported an increase in profits and payments to shareholders, whilst saying it should have acted faster on sewage discharges.
Profits before tax and interest reached £508.8m in the year to the end of March, up from £506.2m the year before.
Shareholder payments too are up and estimated to be worth more than £260m. A dividend for the year of £1.06 per share has been proposed by Severn Trent, 4p more per share than last year.
It comes as the head of industry body UK Water last week apologised for not acting quickly enough on sewage spills into UK rivers and seas and said it would spend £10bn on the issue.
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Customer bills will be increased to fund that spending, Ruth Kelly told Sky News.
The apology by UK Water was not repeated by Severn Trent in its annual results, but the company said the industry should have given sewage “much more attention” and “acted faster”.
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There were an average of 18 sewage discharges per overflow sewer a year, the report said, down from an average of 25 discharges last year. Severn Trent’s website says it has roughly 2,400 overflow sewers, meaning there were approximately 43,200 discharges in the year.
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According to the Environmental Agency, 301,091 sewage spills were recorded last year – 824 a day on average – from all 10 water and sewerage companies in England. It’s a reduction from 2021 when there were an average of 1,020 a day. But the drop came due to “dry weather, not water company action”, the agency said.
Severn Trent executive payments for 2023 are not known at present as the directors’ remuneration report has not yet been published. Last year chief executive Liv Garfield received a £3.9m package, making her the highest paid executive in the water sector.
