Tom Gordon ‘mortified’ as news breaks that one third of bills paid to Yorkshire Water go on debts and dividends
Today, it was revealed that approximately a third of the cash customers pay to Yorkshire Water goes to service debt and pay dividends to shareholders. Over the past 7 years, Yorkshire Water has paid out £2bn in interest on corporate debt and interest, more than the £1.2bn it spent on improving its infrastructure, despite the near constant dumping of sewage and repeated issues with flooding. Last month, Yorkshire Water’s credit rating was downgraded from stable to negative.
Tom has had a number of constituents contact him having fallen ill swimming in rivers that are meant to be clean, or otherwise horrified at the amount of sewage being dumped by Yorkshire Water. 87% of rivers in the Yorkshire and the Humber aren’t up to a good ecological standard.
The news comes after years of crisis. Over the past 6 months, Yorkshire Water has been fined by Ofwat for sewage dumping, come under fire for failing to deal with customer complaints, and continued to dump sewage, all whilst paying out a £371,000 bonus to their CEO, and requesting a large increase in customer bills over the next year.
Commenting, Tom Gordon MP said:
“I’m mortified. Customers, including myself, are paying for Yorkshire Water to treat their sewage. Instead, they’re using it to pay debts and dividends, and chucking the sewage into our rivers.
“Nicola Shaw must hand back her bonus, and make sure that the money goes towards sorting out this dreadful mess. The Government must take action. Bonuses and dividends should be banned for the water industry until no sewage is being dumped.
“The behaviour of Yorkshire Water is simply unacceptable, as I have repeatedly made clear. They seem to think that they can simply do whatever they like without consequences. The Government must make it clear that they can’t.
ENDS
Read more on the BBC here: Third of each Yorkshire Water bill goes on debt and dividend - BBC News