Severn Trent to invest record £12.9 billion in its water and sewage network

By Peter Davison

3 October 2023

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Severn Trent CEO Liv Garfield

Utilities firm Severn Trent has told water industry regulator Ofwat that it plans to invest £12.9 billion in its water and sewage network.

The company says the multibillion-pound programme is set to create 7,000 new jobs between 2025 and 2030, which will have "a positive lasting impact for decades to come".

It also means that for every household, Severn Trent will invest £2,400 back into the region.

The plan is underpinned by a £550 million financial support package, which means financial support for around 700,000 people to help pay their bill - more customers than ever before - and around one in seven customers in the region.

Liv Garfield, CEO at Severn Trent said: “By 2030 we will have transformed our network to continue to provide our customers with the best service that can be relied on.

"At the heart of this ambition is a commitment to ensure a sustainable future – from healthy rivers, to providing jobs of thousands, less leaks and a water supply to deal with the impacts of climate change and population growth whilst making sure that no customer ever worries about affording their water bill.

“We’ve listened hard to our customers; not only will we make sure we keep building on our strong sector leading track record, but we’ll be more than a water company. This investment will make sure we have a positive economic, environmental and social impact for decades to come for the communities we serve."

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The plans submitted on Monday to Ofwat will now be reviewed, and final business plans for 2025-2030 will be confirmed in April 2024, said the company.

The Coventry-based firm supplies water to households and businesses in the Midlands, parts of Gloucestershire, and parts of Wales.

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.