The people facing the water giants in court over refusing to pay their bills

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1. Water companies are taking customers to court who have refused to pay their bills over sewage spills.

   In 2023, sewage levels in England’s rivers, seas and lakes reached record levels.

   The Environment Agency (EA) said there were 3.6 million hours of sewage released into waterways, more than double the previous year. In March 2024, a report from the EA showed a 54 per cent increase in the number of sewage spills in 2023 compared to 2022.

   The Government has launched an independent review into the water sector and pledged to crack down on spills, but despite that, a number of customers have refused to pay their bills in protest and will now face the water companies in court.

   This comes despite [Ofwat](https://inews.co.uk/news/how-water-bill-affected-ofwat-rise-3440631?srsltid=AfmBOoqRecSj8xP6o-FIVMc9xzbEIxymfHe0oD22p12DvxS-Z_rmTsKy&ico=in-line_link) and the Consumer Council for Water warning customers withholding payments to continue paying their bills, warning that water firms can take debt recovery action that could impact their credit ratings or result in additional charges.

2. Good luck to them but I wouldn’t be optimistic about the outcome. Presumably if they win it’ll open the floodgates (sorry) to everyone else doing this.

3. I’m watching with interest as i don’t like paying bills either

4. I wish them the best, however the law was changed in 2023 to target Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion, but is broad enough to effect everyone and maybe even these cases.

   In the past, protesters were allowed to argue that their protest was ‘proportionate and reasonable’ to the jury and they could be free despite committing an unlawful act.

   Take for instance the Greenpeace protesters who scaled a coal power plant chimney in 2009, they were aquited by jury after arguing due to the environmental damage it caused it was proportionate. This protest led to the rethinking of how we power the UK and the phasing out of coal power.

   Womens rights, LGBTQ+ rights and more used this defense.

   This defense has been stuck out.

   I fear these water protesters are going to lose based on this.

5. Just like I’m refusing to pay to read a website. Thanks for sharing the content too I, but out of principle I ain’t gonna be reading that. Good on them

6. The Welsh one will be of particular interest as it removed the shareholder/dividend conversion

7. Water company has been threatening me for years over unpaid bills and I’ve never been given a court summons or anything.. I’m 40 years old and I’ve never paid one in my life, because this has been an age old thing that I can’t believe has taken this long to come out.

   Always remember: When you move into a new place, you are not obligated to open any letter that says “to the occupier” just throw it in the bin. They will thretan to turn your water off (which is illigal for them to do) they will try everything to scare you into giving them money, you don’t have to. STOP PAYING THESE COMPANIES. And never answer your door unless you know someone is coming.

   (It also helps if your classed as a vulnerable person because bailiffs aren’t allowed to hassle you)

8. What is it currently with news outlets setting up their own reddit accounts and spamming the site with their own articles? I thought self-promotion wasn’t allowed on most subs.

9. Maybe if the government nationalised the water and broke it up into sub-divisions based on county or area there would be better oversight and less pocketing of profits by fat cats who don’t give a fuck about how shite the water is because they live abroad 10 months of the year and drink rich folk bottled water.

   Water is a basic human right and we’re a first world country… I should not have to filter my water with a bloody aquarium filter attached to my tap in the utility room to siphon off tap water that’s being made drinkable.. it should already be nice and free of microplastics and additives.
   As for the sewage, I’m not surprised, little government oversight over the past 10 years has resulted in sewage leaking into every facet of daily life for many tax payers.

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