Water Industry: Financial Resilience Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Robbie Moore
Main Page: Robbie Moore (Conservative - Keighley and Ilkley)Department Debates - View all Robbie Moore's debates with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Water Industry: Financial Resilience
Robbie Moore Excerpts(1 year, 5 months ago)
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Rebecca Pow
There is a structure and a process for working through this matter. It is up to the individual water companies and the regulator working with them to ensure that they are resilient. That is why Ofwat reports annually on how resilient each water company is. If that flags any issues, Ofwat works closely with them, because we need our water companies to be fully functioning. We need to attract investment—a huge sum of money has been invested since privatisation, as I mentioned earlier—in infrastructure to give our customers the kind of service they deserve. We should also be mindful that it is not all piled on to customers; we have to share the load.
Robbie Moore (Keighley) (Con)
It is worth making the House realise that it was the Opposition who voted against the Environment Act 2021, which gave Ofwat more powers. Can my hon. Friend assure me that the water regulator Ofwat will be able to clamp down on excessive cash payouts and ensure that water companies put their customers first?
Rebecca Pow
I thank my hon. Friend for pointing that out. He is absolutely right: whatever the Opposition say today, one of the measures they did not vote for in the Environment Act 2021 was to enable Ofwat to hold water companies to account where they do not demonstrate a link between dividends and performance. They must have sound performance and be performing for their customers, otherwise they cannot pay out their dividends.