by Our News Desk

PRIVATISED water companies in England and Wales have slurped up an eye-watering £800 million in tax cuts and low borrowing charges alone since 2010, the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed yesterday.

In a new report published today, the spending watchdog said that — like with every other sold-off industry — households had not properly benefited from the massive windfall.

It laid the blame at the toothless regulator Ofwat for not doing enough to “appropriately balance the risks” between privateers and the public.

The NAO said Ofwat needed to do more to ensure that customers benefited when the firms were raking in cash hand over fist.

It estimated that between 2010 and 2015 the companies gained £410m from reduced corporation tax rates and a further £840m from lower-than-forecast rates of interest.

Over the same period the companies absorbed costs and provided water bill discounts worth up to £435m, leaving them with a net windfall of £800m.

The spending watchdog said the balance of risks in Ofwat’s price cap was weighted too heavily in favour of the companies, and so households were not getting proper value for their money.

“Customers have not seen enough of the benefits of companies’ unexpected financial gains from factors such as falls in corporation tax rates,” said NAO chief Amyas Morse.

Water bills have increased 40 per cent in real terms — accounting for inflation — since the industry was flogged off in 1989.

Water bills accounted for about 2.3 per cent of average household spending in 2013 and more than 5 per cent for the poorest households.