CAMPAIGNERS mounted further calls for Thames Water to be permanently brought into public ownership today after the firm launched a “blatantly greedy and desperate bid” to hike bills yet again.

The firm has already been allowed to increase bills by 35 per cent over the next five years by regulator Ofwat.

Thames Water originally lobbied for a 59 per cent increase and is now asking the Competition and Markets Authority to review the decision.

On the verge of financial collapse, Thames Water sits on £19 billion of debts. 

Despite this, it paid out £158.3 million in dividends last March, and attempted to award its CEO and CFO £770,000 in bonuses using customer money before being blocked by Ofwat.

Thames Water is currently waiting for a court decision on whether it will be allowed a £3.3bn creditor bailout to avoid falling into special administration at the end of March. 

The loan will cost a mammoth £800m in interest and fees alone, which campaign group We Own It argues will add an extra £250 a year to household bills.

Thames Water chairman Adrian Montague claimed it appeal to the competition regulator was “in the interests of our customers and the environment.”

But We Own It director Cat Hobbs called it a “blatantly greedy and desperate bid from Thames Water to rake in even more cash from the public as it drowns in its own debt. 

“This company is a joke, but the joke is at our expense. 

“The government must immediately bring Thames Water into special administration and permanent public ownership. 

“That is the only way it will work for households and the environment.”

Ofwat has launched an investigation this week into Thames Water over its failure to deliver 100 of the 812 projects that it was due to put in place between 2020 and 2025, with the firm unlikely to complete them by the March deadline.

Funded by customers, the schemes aimed to improve the firm’s environmental impact such as through upgrades to sewage treatment works.

Consumer Council for Water head Mike Keil said: “Customers of Thames Water are already facing steep bill rises and they will be incensed the company now has the temerity to pursue an even larger increase.

“This is a company which has a poor track record on service delivery and customer complaints, so people will rightly question why it should be trusted with even more of billpayers’ money.”

Defra has been contacted for comment