‘I’m holding water companies to account – by refusing to pay my bills’

Katy Colley loved swimming near her home in Hastings, East Sussex. But when she contracted an E. coli infection from sewage in seawater during the summer of 2022, she decided it was time to take direct action.

So when her bill from Southern Water came through, she refused to pay the wastewater charge.

She has not paid it for nearly a year. Water companies are not allowed to disconnect those who do not pay, so she still has running water, but the companies will send threatening letters, and can take refusers to court. 

She is one of a growing wave of people hitting back against sewage being dumped in the sea by refusing to pay their bills.

Water companies are permitted to “discharge” untreated waste during periods of exceptional rainfall, to stop their infrastructure being overloaded. 

But concerns have been growing that the water companies may have been stretching the limits of what is allowed, and illegally dumping sewage into rivers and the sea. 

There were more than 384,000 spills reported by water companies in 2022, or 825 releases daily. In the same year, there were nine prosecutions against sewage companies, while the Environment Agency (EA) levied fines of up to £1.6m. 

The EA was granted new powers to allow it to levy unlimited fines on water companies found breaking the rules last July, following a Department of Food and Rural Affairs consultation. 

At the weekend, environment secretary Steve Barclay confirmed that water bosses would be stopped from taking bonuses if they were found to be illegally polluting rivers or the sea. Environmental campaigners have called for the measure since it emerged that water company bosses have received £26m in bonuses since 2019 despite the damage to rivers and beaches.

Each of the 11 wastewater companies in the UK is now being boycotted by activists, Ms Colley adds. 

Her campaign, Boycott Water Bills, ran a survey of nearly 40 activists who had been refusing to pay their bills for anywhere from three weeks to three years. Responses given as reasons for boycotting included “frustration with the abuse of monopoly power” and “not paying for a service that is patently not being provided”.

The boycotters claimed that the water companies had been “dismissive” of their complaints, or “totally ignored concerns”. Another said they had been sent “a long response without any substance”. 

“I just think this is a terrible way to behave with your customers when they are making genuine complaints,” Ms Colley says. 

Caroline Dennett is 44 weeks into her water bill protest. “I live in Weymouth, in Dorset, so there are a lot of swimmers, there are a lot of sailors, there’s a lot of surfers. We’re a very water-based community.”

“I just thought, for the first time in my life, because I have always prided myself on being someone who pays their bills on time, that: ‘I’m just not going to pay’. 

“I was just sickened, actually, by the information I had seen, and anecdotally, what local swimmers were saying,” says the social scientist and researcher. “Sometimes, the only language companies understand is money.”

While she started by not paying her entire bill, she then decided to pay for her supply, but not the wastewater charge. 

Her water company, Wessex Water, began by sending her reminder letters, before sending strongly worded reminders. Eventually, it sent her a letter telling her that if she didn’t pay up, it would appeal to the government to take the money from any benefits she was owed. 

The case was also passed on to a debt collection company, although Ms Dennett said that because she had continued to complain, she had not yet been challenged with legal action. 

Ms Dennett has set up the Don’t Pay For Dirty Water Campaign, with Extinction Rebellion, in order to encourage others to take part in the protest. She says: “I started talking to friends about this and just said, ‘This is a reasonably easy thing to do, in fact it’s one of the easiest things you can do if you want to take environmental action, because you literally just do nothing.’ 

“It has become a national campaign, just showing people how you can do that in a way that feels comfortable for people, because not everyone is in such a secure financial situation. 

“For some people who are on benefits, or have a poor credit rating, it can be quite a scary thing to do. But for those people who are financially secure, this is a really easy, safe thing to do,” she explains. 

“If it does get sticky, if you get court threats, you can just pay it and start withholding all over again. I feel that it is a bit of a no-brainer.” 

Survey respondents who were contacted by debt collectors said that they felt “under pressure” to pay and “anxious”.

Another respondent said the process made them uneasy because they felt like “small fry” while another said they were made to feel “like a criminal. Which I am not”.

Helen Brown, of the Consumer Council for Water, which helps resolve complaints against water companies, says: “We’re aware some customers have decided to boycott paying part or all of their water and sewerage bill in protest at their water company’s environmental performance.

“Our advice to people who approach us with a complaint regarding this matter is to continue paying their charges. Customers who are considering boycotting payment should understand they could face debt recovery action from their water company. This could negatively impact their credit rating and also potentially result in additional costs being added to their bill.”

Morgan Wild, of charity Citizens Advice, said: “It’s important to know that there can be serious consequences if you don’t pay your bills. 

“If you miss a water bill, your water company can’t, by law, cut off from your supply but it could pass you onto a debt collector. As a last resort, they could also take you to court to get a county court judgement to recover the money you owe.”

Water companies do not have to suspend bill processes because of complaints made about them. 

It comes after forecasts revealed that the average annual water and sewage bill in England and Wales is expected to rise by 6pc, up £27 to £473. The increase is more than inflation, which is currently 4pc. 

A Wessex Water spokesman said that storm overflows were not appropriate for the 21st century. “We are currently spending over £3m a month to progressively improve and eliminate overflows, and subject to regulatory approval, that investment will double.

“We are always happy to discuss with customers how we’re tackling overflows.”

Katy Taylor, Southern Water’s chief customer officer, said the company was investing £3bn over five years to reduce the use of storm overflows. 

“We are trying to balance getting this done quickly with keeping customer bills as low as possible, and will only move at a pace that is acceptable to our communities.”