Northumbrian Water made a total profit of £206 million in the financial year ending 31st March 2024.
They paid out £61 million in dividends.
Their fine for polluting Northumberland's rivers and beaches — probably the most beautiful coastline in all of Britain, and officially recognised as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) — was just £17 million.
And the fine doesn't even appear to my eyes to be for that financial year alone, it appears to be for all the years of spillage (correct me if I've misunderstood!).
I'm not sure if they've received any previous fines for this, but if not, that works out as a £1.9 million fine for each year since we started measuring all outflows.
Ofwat are a fucking joke. Just like Ofgem, they care more about keeping the private foreign ownership happy than they do about actually regulating these companies for the good of UK citizens and for the wider environment.
If I ran a garage and was dumping brake fluid, oils, and other detritus into streets, drains, rivers, etc I rightly wouldn't receive little slaps on the wrist. I'd be in prison.