One of the country’s biggest water companies is to be charged by the Serious Fraud Office, it has been revealed. Severn Trent Water is being accused of lying about its leakage figures to the industry watchdog Ofwat – it faces substantial fines if convicted. Information given to Ofwat is crucial in determining how much water firms can charge households for water, waste services and the cost of repairing the network of pipes. The news comes a few days after it emerged that Southern Water faces fines of up to £20.3m for misleading Ofwat by deliberately misreporting customer service information. Severn Trent says it has been told that no individual member of its staff will be accused of any offence. The charges relate to information supplied by Severn Trent going back as far as 2000. In 2005 the SFO told the company it was undertaking a criminal investigation into “alleged reporting irregularities”. Ofwat had been carrying out is own investigation following allegations of false reporting against one of its employees in May 2004. It published its findings almost two years later – and Severn Trent had to apologise to customers and reduce its prices. The company has acknowledged that the regulator “may expect further amends to be made to customers”. It serves some eight million people across a large part of the country, from mid-wales to Rutland and Bristol to the Humber. Chief Executive Tony Wray said: “We will now study carefully the details of the charges, which relate to the responsibilities of a previous regime.” The group is also facing Ofwat penalties over “misstated” customer relations data and added today that it was “unable to give a reliable estimate” over the potential fines it faces. In April 2006, Severn Trent also said it had uncovered evidence of the “misstatements” going back over several years.

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