Water company boss issues warning on restrictions to 16 million customers

Chris Weston said the UK's biggest water supplier has already upped its drought preparation plans after the driest March in 60 years

Thames Water's chief has signalled potential restrictions this summer following a notably arid spring.

Chris Weston, the boss at the UK's largest water supplier serving 16 million customers, disclosed that they've ramped up drought plans, which includes urging customers to save water.

"I am confident that we won't run out of water," he assured MPs.

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"I am not confident that we won't have to restrict usage because that will depend on what the weather does and what rainfall happens between now and the summer."

This alert comes as Britain faces unusually dry spells, with England and Wales recording their driest March since records began in 1961.

With only May upon us, there's unease over reservoir levels and the possibility of hosepipe bans if another parched summer unfolds.

Mr Weston, while testifying before the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, maintained that their reservoirs were at 94% capacity.

"We are prepared as best we can be for a drought event", he claimed, reports the Mirror.

He revealed that Thames Water has escalated from level zero to one on its four-tier drought readiness scale.

Despite Mr Weston's emphasis on efforts to dodge usage limits, it was noted that Thames Water is haemorrhaging 56 mega-tonnes of water daily due to leaks.

Furthermore, plans for a new reservoir in Oxfordshire won't kick off until 2028, with completion expected well into the following decade.

This summer, Britain's sole desalination facility, owned by Thames Water and located in Beckton, East London, will remain non-operational once again.

The plant, designed to convert briny seawater into potable water for numerous homes during scarcity periods, has been the subject of scrutiny from Mr Weston for its past investment choices.

Nationally, water reservoirs are filled to just 84%, with the lowest levels noted at Thirlmere and Haweswater in the Lake District, both only 58% full and diminishing rapidly at a rate close to 2% per week.

United Utilities, responsible for water provision in the northwest, is already appealing to consumers to minimise water consumption.

During his testimony to MPs, Mr Weston criticised the previous leaders and proprietors of Thames Water.

He put it frankly to the MPs: "It is a big ship to turn around," acknowledging the historical issues plaguing the company, "This has been decades in the making, the crisis that we face at Thames, and I think all actors have a role to play in this.

"The company and management got it wrong. Five chief executives in five years is not a recipe for success."

Mr Weston further censured the former owner, Australian bank Macquarie, for saddling Thames with substantial debts.

His words were unequivocal: "That will have exacerbated the situation," he remarked.

"That will have contributed to the problem. It stresses the organisation."

Under the spotlight at the committee hearing, chaired by Lib Dem MP Alistair Carmicheal, Thames top exec faced questioning over his hefty £195,000 bonus as part of an eye-watering £2.3 million annual package.

"My remuneration was agreed with the board," he conceded, while acknowledging "It was not the reason but it was a reason for me joining Thames."

Thames Chairman Sir Adrian Montague communicated: "We realise there is a vast amount to be done to bring the performance up to scratch and that we are letting customers down.

"We are starting to see real progress. We are seeing green shoots."

Weston disclosed investments toward addressing pollution incidents, noting an increase in raw sewage spillages into rivers, with 469 such episodes last year, rising from 350 previously, including 33 significant ones.

"No-one at Thames comes to work to cause leakage and everyone wants to try and minimise that as much as possible," he declared.

This came in the wake of Sir Adrian revealing the company's brush with financial insolvency, describing times within the past year when only five weeks' worth of liquidity remained as "hair-raising".

Speaking to MPs regarding the utility giant's precarious finances, he detailed: "The fact of the matter is, as we've noted on several occasions, Thames in the last year has come very close to running out of money entirely.

There were times in the last year that we had five weeks' liquidity - and running a £20 billion corporation on five weeks' liquidity, honestly, it's hair-raising."

Thames Water has identified the infrastructure arm of KKR, a US private equity giant, as its preferred bidder in a last-ditch attempt to avoid nationalisation.

The board is engaged in exclusive talks with KKR, which has pledged to inject £4billion in equity into the company and take control.

Mr Weston informed MPs that the situation remains highly unpredictable, leaving open the possibility of the company falling into public hands.

He conceded that the substantial penalties Thames Water faces for failing to meet performance targets, amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds, have complicated efforts to attract new investors.

When questioned on whether the collapse of talks with KKR would preclude revisiting other potential investors or necessitate a special administration regime, Mr Weston replied: "It's a very fluid situation but those both are possibilities."

The parliamentary committee also learned that senior executives at Thames Water are poised to receive substantial bonuses should the company's turnaround succeed.

These bonuses may be disbursed in three phases, with the first instalment worth 50% of executives' salaries, potentially exceeding £1million.

Sir Adrian acknowledged that these payouts could be "very substantial".