In 2023, Severn Trent paid its shareholders £972 for every hour it dumped sewage — the highest in England.
- This "profit from pollution" rate is based on Severn Trent polluting for 440,446 hours and paying out a total of £428m in dividends.
- The company is listed on the stock exchange and mostly owned by organisations and individuals overseas.
- Severn Trent has paid out a total of £11.8 billion in dividends since privatisation in 1989.
- Net debts have reached £7 billion. It was privatised with no debts.
- 11% of your bill is spent servicing Severn Trent's debts.
Privatisation VS Public Ownership
- England and Wales are the only countries to have fully privatised water and sewerage systems.
- Our bills have gone up by 40% in real terms since privatisation.
- Publicly owned Scottish Water has spent 35% more than the English water companies. If England had done the same an extra £28 billion would have been invested in sewage and leak prevention.
- Public ownership can make water companies more accountable. Paris Water has bill payers and sewage campaigners on its board, alongside water workers and elected councillors. In the Netherlands, water companies have to publish data on their performance in a league table for the public and press to scrutinise. It's called sunshine regulation.
Read more at our dedicated water policy page here: https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/water
Sign the petition: stop sewage by taking back our water
This is a scandal. Every day, the private English water companies are dumping huge amounts of disgusting raw sewage into our rivers and seas. Privatisation has been failing since 1989.
The shareholders receive £1.6 billion a year on average - that money could be invested in water infrastructure to stop sewage. 82% of us support public ownership.
Let's make water companies work for people not profit.
Yes, I believe water should be in public ownership.
Last signature: Paul Tonbridge[1], 9 hours 31 min ago