Speeches by Tufnell.

“Well, why do you think it has been underfunded? You touched on this at the beginning: you have spent more on dividends and servicing debt over the previous two years, from 2023, than on investing in the infrastructure. To give the numbers, you paid £156 million in dividends, and you paid £72.8 million in interest, whil…”

“Why is there such a disconnect between what you have been putting out and what the local council has been sending in correspondence to the Committee? Why has there been a disconnect between what customers are experiencing on the frontline and what the local MP has submitted to the Committee, and the evidence that you a…”

“So you were just unlucky in terms of the timing of being made CEO?”

“Can I touch on the local resilience forum, Mr Hinton? There have been lots of previous incidents where this has happened. If you look back to 2022, I think you had 3,000 properties in Tunbridge Wells with an affected water supply for four to five days. In June 2023, you had thousands of customers across various locatio…”

“Do you think that there should be bans or stricter standards?”

“We await your correspondence with interest.”

“That is very helpful. Finally, taking a step back from everything, has the work of the Independent Water Commission stalled progress in respect of other changes that could have been made for drinking water?”

“On microplastics, in respect of there not being any standards, I appreciate that there is no recommendation for them from the WHO, but what is your organisation’s perspective on that?”

“No, I am just trying to make a bit of progress. I have two more questions for you. What you have been saying has been gold dust, but I am conscious that I have taken half an hour, and the Chair is probably giving me eyes—I am avoiding looking at him.”

“I am conscious of time, but in terms of the raw, untreated water, you talked about the regulator and there being no regulations on the safety of pre-treatment water. Is that something that is on your radar?”

“What about the risk in respect of the need for speed? If we think about lead pipes, for example, there are reports that 3 million lead pipes still exist across water companies, and that only 4% are estimated to have been replaced in the past five years. That is a health risk to the wider population. If you are looking …”

“We can break it down. Nitrates and extreme weather events make water treatment more expensive. That is one of the things we talked about at length with South East Water, where it was all about investment and the need for investment, which David kept coming back to. Does the DWI have a sense of how expensive the costs w…”

“Moving on to future risks, the compliance risk index, or the CRI, is going to be tightened over the next five years. Ofwat said that will have significant challenges for operators. Given that six companies that have failed to meet their target every year since 2020, Ofwat’s fear may be warranted. You also have issues a…”

“You also talked about transparency in your opening remarks. Are you concerned that there could be reduced transparency because it all gets done in-house, rather than having a potentially more public discussion between regulators?”

“First, the drinking quality of the water in England is very high. Being subsumed into a new regulator, there could be a fear that that focus gets lost to one that is consumed with bills and pollution. Is that something that you think about?”

“I will start with the elephant in the room, which is that the Government have said that they are going to abolish the Drinking Water Inspectorate and create a new, integrated water regulator. From your perspective, what challenges or opportunities does this represent for future drinking water regulations?”

“Thank you; that is very helpful. Can I pick up on two things?”

“Well, why do you think it has been underfunded? You touched on this at the beginning: you have spent more on dividends and servicing debt over the previous two years, from 2023, than on investing in the infrastructure. To give the numbers, you paid £156 million in dividends, and you paid £72.8 million in interest, whil…”

“After everything we have just heard, the fundamental point for your customers is that there will be a 38% rise in their bills. By 2030, it is going to be about £339 after inflation. In that context, in respect of yours and your company’s performance, the people picking up the tab are your customers. Does that sit well …”

“Why is there such a disconnect between what you have been putting out and what the local council has been sending in correspondence to the Committee? Why has there been a disconnect between what customers are experiencing on the frontline and what the local MP has submitted to the Committee, and the evidence that you a…”