South West Water lost more than £16m to Brixham parasite outbreak, figures show

Residents were supplied with bottled water by South West Water Credit: PA

The owner of South West Water (SWW) has said a parasite outbreak in the water supply in Devon earlier this year cost it £16.3million, pushing it further into the red in the first half of the financial year.The Pennon Group said it had to pay out compensation to affected customers after the cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham, south Devon, which left some people in hospital with more than 100 others reporting symptoms. It said the £16.3million went towards providing eight weeks’ worth of bottled water for people in the affected area, carrying out “extensive interventions to clean and filter the network” and compensating customers. Chief executive Susan Davy said: “When things go wrong, as they did for customers and businesses in and around Brixham earlier this year, we put it right, with no excuses. But we know we have more to do.”

The Pennon Group said it made a £38.8million pre-tax loss in the six months to September.Capital spending, on things like upgrading its water infrastructure, rose to £331.8million, up about a quarter on the same period last year.

It is believed a damaged air valve on private land was the cause of the outbreak of the waterborne disease cryptosporidium Credit: PA

Water firms have drawn public outrage in recent years over the extent of pollution and other incidents, amid steep planned increases to bills, high dividends, and executive pay and bonuses.Pennon has asked regulators to let it increase average consumer bills at South West Water by 23% over the next five years, with Ofwat’s final decision due in December.South West Water also launched an awareness campaign in February aimed at getting customers to use less water, which also hit first-half revenues.Ms Davy added: “We continue to lead the way in helping customers to use less and save more with a range of money-saving campaigns and pilots.“Whilst that’s led to lower wholesale water business revenues, it’s the right thing to do.”The company also said it spent about £4million on restructuring the business, which came in the months after it bought Sutton and East Surrey (SES) Water for £350million.