A water company in Reading is being pushed to give out more compensation to people who lost water for hours during major outages.
A water company in Reading is facing calls for increased compensation after residents endured hours without water during major outages last year.
The first outage, in January, left East Reading residents without water for days due to issues at the Pangbourne Water Treatment Works. The second incident occurred in November, affecting Caversham due to burst pipes in Sonning Common.
Thames Water, responsible for the area’s supply, provided a minimum of £30 in compensation to 6,778 impacted households and businesses, with additional payments for longer interruptions.
Now, Matt Rodda, Reading Central's Labour MP, is advocating for Thames Water to raise the compensation to at least £50, in line with new Ofwat guidelines. He stated, "This is such a major interruption... the water company should have done a lot better."
Rodda also expressed disappointment over the distribution of water during the November outage, which was limited to a Tesco in Henley, arguing that more convenient locations like Albert Road Park could have been used. "It adds insult to injury... it’s a lot of driving around just to get water," he said.
In response, Thames Water apologised to customers but declined to increase the compensation already issued, citing adherence to previous regulatory obligations. A spokesperson said, "We understand how disruptive it is to be without water... and are continuing to invest in improving our service."
New compensation processes were introduced in July, along with a review of bottled water station locations, including trials for pedestrian access alongside drive-through options.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
