The water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, has opened an enforcement case into Thames Water to investigate whether its delayed delivery of environmental clean-ups means that the company has breached its obligations.
Thames Water committed to deliver 812 schemes as part of the water industry national environmental programme between 2020 and 2025.
However, the company alerted Ofwat and the Environment Agency that it would be unlikely to deliver more than 100 of these projects on time, by 31 March.
Lynn Parker, the senior director for enforcement at Ofwat, said: "Customers have paid for Thames Water to carry out these essential environmental schemes. We take any indication that water companies are not meeting their legal obligations very seriously. Therefore, we have launched an investigation to understand whether the delayed delivery of environmental schemes means that Thames Water has breached its obligations.
"If we find reason to act, we will use our full range of powers to hold Thames to account for any failures and will require them to put things right."
The Guardian reported in late December that Thames Water intentionally diverted millions of pounds pledged for environmental clean-ups towards other costs, including bonuses and dividends.
Later today the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is due to meet the bosses of Britain’s biggest banks, including the chief executives of Barclays, HSBC, Nationwide, Lloyds, NatWest and Santander, to discuss the government’s growth ambitions.
At lunchtime (UK time), we will get the latest US inflation figures, which are expected to show price pressures were steady last month at an annual rate of 2.9%, while the core rate (which strips out volatile food and energy costs) is forecast to have dipped to 3.1% from 3.2%.
The agenda • 10am GMT: European Central Bank member Frank Elderson's speech • 1.30pm GMT: US consumer price index for January (forecast 2.9%; previous 2.9%) • 3pm GMT: the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, gives testimony • 3pm GMT: Bank of England policymaker Megan Greene speaks at IoD
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