Southern Water has issued a statement rebuffing recent media reports regarding proposed dividend payments, describing them as “inaccurate claims”.

The water company said:

“Inaccurate claims have appeared in this week’s media stating that we plan to pay dividends amounting to a total of £275 million during the period 2025-30. This is not true.”

Following the Draft Determination published by Ofwat in July and updated scope following feedback from the Environment Agency and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Southern Water submitted its updated AMP8 business plan in August.

This increased the investment requirement to £9.85 billion, alongside which the utility included a plan to raise a further £650 million of equity.

The srtatement says:

“Our August 2024 response to the Draft Determination assumes no dividends in the 2025-30 regulatory cycle. Southern Water has not paid a dividend to its shareholders since 2017, whilst over £1.6 billion of equity has been injected into the Southern Water group by funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management since 2021.

“In addition to this significant equity injection, we also envisage raising additional debt financing to build new infrastructure and improve our services. This is normal business practice, ensuring that our customers do not pay now for a project which may take decades to come into effect and no longer benefit them should they move, or their circumstances change.

“This is a crucial year for the UK water sector as we plan for the next five years and a further step-change in investment. We are committed to working with Ofwat, other regulators and the UK government to secure an investible and sustainable resolution, so we can deliver the improvements to our network that our customers expect.”