Southern Water is a privatised water company in England, with shareholders primarily based overseas. They are regulated by Ofwat and the Environmental Agency.
The current CEO is Lawrence Gosden – whose salary doubled last year to £1.4 million. In the same year, Southern Water confirmed that customer bills will potentially rise by an average of 44% by 2030.
In October 2024, Ofwat’s annual performance report ordered Southern Water to pay £31.9 million in penalties due to missed targets on pollution, leaks, and other performance shortfalls. Just years after being slammed with a £90 million enforcement package from Ofwat, Southern Water continued to enact excessive and unnecessary spills, all while customer bills continued to rise. The company has also faced a history of court prosecutions in recent years for pollution offences, though recent specific enforcement focusses on regulatory penalties for performance failings.
In 2024 alone, Southern Water’s endless output of raw sewage pollution impacted 830 locations for a total of 304,536 hours.
Southern Water must demonstrate a clear and measurable turnaround in pollution and infrastructure, capping customer bills with the same determination extended to their own pay packets.
