Water firm's £481m profit (From Warrington Guardian)

Water firm's £481m profit

A WARRINGTON-based water company has unveiled profits of £481 million, but an industry watchdog says complaints against United Utilities have gone up by 50 per cent.

And despite efforts to cut leakage, the Lingley Mere company is still losing 470 million litres of water a day across the north west.

The Consumer Council for Water - an independent body that represents water consumers in England - is asking the company to do more for its customers.

Andrew Marsh, from CC Water, said: "It has not been a good year in terms of complaints for them.

"Complaints to us have gone up 50 per cent, which is very much out of line with other regional operators, which are at a level of about 10 per cent.

"At a time when people are paying more for their water they are expecting to get more back.

"That is why we are asking United Utilities to consider using some of their funding success to improve services or they could think about making the next price rise lower than expected."

The water giant says it is already spending £70 million on finding and fixing leaks over the next four years and has agreed an action plan with Ofwat, the industry regulator, to reduce leakage.

The target within the action plan was to reach the economic level of leakage of 470 megalitres (each a million litres) per day, by March, which was achieved.

The company also confirmed that it would be interested in taking over the day to day management of Southern water giant Thames Water if the opportunity arose.

Under competition rules, the company cannot buy Thames Water but can manage it.

l What do you think? Are consumers getting good value for money or should more be done to sort out the leaks? E-mail views to reporter Helen Cartwright, hcartwright@guardian

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