Water companies in England could face more, and automatic, fines for sewage dumping under new Environment Agency powers.
The government is consulting on allowing the regulator to use a lower, civil, standard of proof instead of the higher criminal standard, for minor to moderate environmental offences.
Other measures under consultation include setting a cap at either £350,000 or £500,000 for penalties issued to the civil standard, introducing new automatic penalties – like a speeding ticket – for specific and obvious breaches without the need for lengthy investigations, and setting a value of either £10,000, £15,000 or £20,000 for the new automatic penalty.
Currently, investigations into pollution can take years and fewer than 1% have resulted in a prosecution.
Regulators have been forced to be lenient to water companies which have been fined for illegally dumping sewage but are in dire financial straits. Ofwat recently decreed that Thames Water could have a bespoke payment plan for fines it owes worth £123m. The creditors that run Thames Water are asking for leniency for the company on up to £1bn of expected fines.
The government is consulting on streamlining its regulators, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, announced on Tuesday they will be given a growth duty, meaning that financial performance of companies has to be placed ahead of regulatory compliance, and will be placed in a league table to show which regulators are failing to deliver economic growth. Defra recently announced it would be abolishing the much-criticised regulator Ofwat and merging its powers with that of the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the Environment Agency.
The environment secretary, Emma Reynolds, said: “I share the public’s anger at the current state of our water system, and this government is taking decisive action.
“I want to give the Environment Agency the teeth it needs to tackle all rule breaking. With new, automatic and tougher penalties for water companies, there will be swift consequences for offences – including not treating sewage to the required standard and maintenance failures.”
The new policies are expected to cost the water sector between £50m and £67m annually, but the true cost could be lower if the penalties drive improvement in behaviour.
The fines will be paid by shareholders, the government said, rather than being put on to customer bills.
