Thames Water pays almost half-a-million pounds in compensation for summer leak 'chaos'

The heavily-indebted utility company has confirmed it is paying an average of £122 to 3,612 bill payers across Enfield after a major burst water main in August cut their supplies, reports James Cracknell

Thames Water vans pictured in Enfield Town on Wednesday (19th) — Thames Water vans pictured in Enfield Town on 19th August

Thames Water has revealed that it is paying out £441,650 to customers in Enfield who lost their supply during a major five-day leak in August.

In response to an Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) request by the Dispatch, the heavily-indebted utility company said that a total of 3,621 bill payers lost their water supply at some point between Sunday 16th and Thursday 20th August, meaning they were entitled to automatic compensation.

Thames Water’s compensation policy states that anyone without water for twelve hours is entitled to £50 compensation, with an additional £50 paid for every further twelve hours the outage continues.

The average payout per Enfield customer for the August incident is £122, suggesting most people lost water for at least one whole day.

The impact of the burst water main in Bramley Road was not just confined to the thousands who lost supplies, however, as traffic chaos insued for several days and operations at Chase Farm Hospital were also postponed.

Thames Water says the cause of the disruption was a 16-inch cast iron main burst, likely resulting from the hot and dry weather this summer causing the ground to shift.

Those people and businesses receiving compensation should have already been contacted directly by Thames Water.

Earlier this month, the Dispatch revealed there were 130 unfixed water leaks across the borough, with some being first reported more than 18 months ago.

In its 2023/24 annual report Thames Water – owned by a consortium including a Chinese sovereign wealth fund and a Canadian pension fund – confirmed it loses an average of around 570.4 million litres per day through leakages

The company’s never-ending financial troubles have also added to calls for it to be returned to public ownership.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham is reportedly considering the government’s options.

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