If water companies want more money, they should earn it first, writes Shelagh Fogarty

We're told the money is needed to improve ageing infrastructure, protect drinking water and meet rising demand.

My response is a simple one.

How dare they?

Not because those improvements aren't needed. They plainly are.

But because the companies asking us to foot the bill are the very ones that have presided over leaking pipes, polluted rivers and beaches, and unreliable water supplies. They are asking customers to pay for failures that should have been prevented in the first place.

How dare they?

And I'll tell you why they dare.

Because the Government lets them. Ofwat lets them. And, in the end, we let them.

I don't often reach for the language of class conflict, but the relationship between Britain's water companies and their customers has started to feel oddly medieval. The barons demand more, and we serfs are expected to pay.

Perhaps that sounds dramatic. It doesn't if you've spent weeks or even months without a reliable water supply. It doesn't if you've been unable to shower properly in the home where you faithfully pay your water bills every month. And it certainly doesn't if your compensation for all that inconvenience is a £50 voucher.

Only this week I had two days of dreadful water pressure. My shower was practically spitting at me. It was frustrating, but I know plenty of people have experienced far worse.

Then there are our rivers, lakes and beaches. Year after year we've watched sewage spills become almost routine, while the companies responsible have somehow found room for generous shareholder returns and eye-watering executive pay.

Now those same companies are asking customers to dig even deeper.

Yes, some of the additional money will be spent maintaining existing infrastructure. Some will help meet demand from new housing and data centres. Some will go towards tackling so-called "forever chemicals" in drinking water.

Those are all worthwhile objectives, but none of them answers the central question of fairness.

Customers of Thames Water, Southern Water, Wessex Water, South East Water and Severn Trent are among those facing further increases on top of rises already announced. Families already struggling with the cost of living are simply expected to absorb another hit.

At what point do customers stop being treated as an inexhaustible source of cash?

Andy Burnham has described the proposals as taking more money out of family budgets at precisely the wrong moment. Environmental campaigners have called the decision an insult and it's hard to disagree.

Every time another increase is approved, regular people are expected to carry on as normal. A regulatory fine here, another executive pay package there, and customers will pick up the bill.

The increases still require final approval later this year, so there is time to ask a different question.

Not whether the water companies need investment.

But why customers should always be the ones expected to pay for years of corporate failure.

I'm not arguing that water companies shouldn't make a profit. I understand that's the model.

But profit should be earned by providing an excellent public service, not by asking the public to pay again and again for a system that has been allowed to deteriorate.

Until that changes, the question will remain the same.

How dare they?

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Listen to Shelagh Fogarty from 1-4pm Monday to Friday on the LBC app.

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