Thames Water achieve record £590m profit

Profits at Thames Water have surged by a third to a record £590.1 million. The profits - the highest ever by a British water supplier - come after Thames announced that household bills are going up by an average of 5.9 per cent, twice the official rate of inflation. Thames said it needed to increase bills to pay for its huge programme of replacing worn out Victorian mains. However, the £150million increase in profits is likely to prove controversial with less well-off customers struggling to pay higher water bills.

Thames is digging up almost 600 streets in the capital and has warned that a similar level of disruption could continue for another 30 years. But the company met its target for leaks for the second year running, losing its lowest amount of water for seven years.