Water giants want even more cash from hard-pressed customers – by adding £100 to bills over five years

WATER giants want to flush out even more cash from hard-pressed customers by adding another £100 to bills over five years.

The biggest suppliers in England and Wales say they need price rises above the levels they have already asked for, despite the regulator telling them that even those amounts were too high.

In July, Ofwat said bills could go up by an average of £94 in the period up to 2030 — a 21 per cent hike, typically working out at an extra £19 a year.

But most companies have now submitted new plans, saying they need to cover urgent investment to cut sewage spills and combat leaky pipes, as well as higher debt interest costs.

It emerged as one provider, United Utilities, was yesterday accused of failing to report more than 100million litres of raw sewage being illegally dumped into Lake Windermere over a three-year period.

Southern Water has already asked to lift bills by 72 per cent from £420.35 a year to £627 a year. Ofwat said in July this should be limited to 44 per cent, but now bosses want more.

Troubled Thames Water says it needs to raise bills by 59 per cent to survive, but Ofwat wants a limit of 23 per cent.

Thames creditors argue that unless Ofwat approves the bigger rise, investors will desert the business and it could run out of cash by the New Year.

They say that could create a domino effect, causing an overall lack of appetite to invest in UK infrastructure.

Family’s back at N Brown

THE fashion group behind Jacamo, JD Williams and Simply Be is being taken private in a £191million deal by the family that built the business up 60 years ago.

Joshua Alliance is to pay 40p per share for the 40 per cent of the N Brown Group that his family does not already own.

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has 20 per cent and will make a sizeable profit after upping its stake in February when the shares were sitting at only 18p.

The stock price of N Brown, which recently called on TV’s Denise van Outen to front JD Williams adverts, jumped by 45 per cent yesterday on the back of the bid.

Mr Alliance, 35, has a 6.6 per cent stake while his father, 92-year-old Lord David Alliance, who bought the business in 1963, has 53.4 per cent.

Lord David was once known as the King of British Textile for his empire that included Coats Viyella.

 He started his career working in bazaars in Iran before moving to Manchester to work in the rag trade.

Joshua Alliance said N Brown would be better off in private hands because, due to its current shareholder ownership, it is “not benefiting from being listed on the AIM market — whilst having to bear significant costs associated with its listing”.

He said: “In the business’s current cycle of evolution, we will be able to achieve this growth potential more successfully away from the public markets.”

Taking a break in revenue

KITKAT maker Nestle has halved its growth expectations for the year after blaming weaker demand and boycotts linked to the conflict in the Middle East.

The world’s biggest food group said its sales would grow by around 2 per cent this year, rather than the 4 per cent expectation it had at the start of the year.

It said its growth was impacted by “soft consumer demand and consumer hesitancy towards global brands, linked to geopolitical tension”.

 The cost of living crisis has also prompted many shoppers to turn their back on many big brands, which have raised prices and shrunk packets to boost their profits.

The Swiss food giant follows global giants Starbucks and McDonald’s in being impacted by boycotts linked to the conflict in Gaza.

Nestle has become a target for the boycott due to its stake in Israeli food seller Osem.

Buy now, pay safer

SHOPPERS will be protected by new rules around “Buy Now, Pay Later” firms, the City watchdog has confirmed.

Regulation around BNPL products, such as Klarna and Clearpay, will finally kick in by early 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority has said.

Proposals to regulate BNPL were first touted in 2021. The new rules will mean firms must follow the same laws covering credit cards and customers will be protected if things go wrong.

30 fired at Meta

FACEBOOK’S Mark Zuckerberg has fired almost 30 workers on six-figure salaries for using meal credits to buy goods such as wine glasses.

Staff at Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, were being paid £300,000 but still received perks including free meal vouchers to buy breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A probe found the sacked workers had used them to buy toothpaste and cosmetics.

Meta, worth £1.1trillion, has led an efficiency drive which has included 21,000 lay-offs in the past two years.

THE boss of Ladbrokes owner Entain has lifted its profit forecasts after a boost from the recent Euros and NFL matches. But Gavin Isaacs yesterday also warned the Government that a tax grab on the gambling ­sector would lead to job losses.

£571M in scams

BRITS had more than £571million stolen by fraudsters and scammers in the first six months of the year.

There were almost 2,000 cases of romance scams, with customers losing £14.5million, says UK Finance data.

Criminals posing as bank staff or police stole £32.3million, while fraudsters pretending to be bosses to trick victims into transferring cash led to a £7.8million loss.

Banks are calling on social media firms to help tackle scammers at source because most fraud starts online.