The company originated as the Wessex Water Authority, one of ten regional water authorities established by the Water Act 1973. These bodies were privatised in 1989. Wessex Water Services Limited was purchased by American company Enron in 1998 for $2.4billion and placed in a newly formed subsidiary, Azurix. In 2002, following Enron's collapse, Wessex Water was sold to YTL Power International of Malaysia.
The water authority had acquired the assets and duties of a number of public sector and local authority water utilities:
Bournemouth Water and West Hampshire Water merged in 1994 to form Bournemouth and West Hampshire Water.
As of 2026, the operating company Wessex Water Services Limited is owned by Wessex Water Limited, the first in a chain of eight holding companies based in the UK, Cayman Islands, Malaysia and ultimately Yeoh Tiong Lay & Sons Family Holdings Ltd in Jersey.[5]
Wessex Water's GENeco subsidiary, established in 2009,[7] operates sewage treatment works. It recycles waste, produces renewable energy and provides the agricultural industry with fertiliser.[8] In summer 2010, GENeco launched the Bio-Bug, a modified VW Beetle that runs on bio-gas generated from waste treated at sewage treatment works.[9] Waste flushed down the toilets of just 70 homes in Bristol is enough to power the Bio-Bug for a year, based on an annual mileage of 10,000 miles.[10]
In November 2014, the UK's first bus powered entirely by human and food waste went into service between Bristol and Bath, run by tour operator Bath Bus Company.[11] Since 2019, biomethane powers buses on one of Bristol's MetroBus routes.[12] The gas is produced at the company's "bioresources and renewable energy park" in Avonmouth, which is run by GENeco.[13]
Performance
Wessex Water achieved a score of 4.53 in Ofwat's 'Satisfaction by company' survey 2012/13 (5 being ‘very satisfied’).[14]
In 2013, Wessex Water's compliance with drinking water standards exceeded 99.9% and the company maintained 100% compliance with sewage treatment discharge consents.[15]
In both 2011/12 and 2012/13, the company's leakage figure was 69 million litres per day, compared to a yearly average of 73million litres per day between 2005 and 2010.[15]
Wessex Water's greenhouse gas emissions totalled 119 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2018/19,[16] compared to 149 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2011/12 and 159 kilotonnes in 2012/13.
Key people
Ruth Jefferson has been chief executive of Wessex Water since October 2024.[17][18] Colin Skellet was the chief executive from 1988 to 2024; he continues as group chief executive with overall responsibility for all YTL's UK activities.[18] Skellet was appointed OBE in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to business and to the WaterAid organisation.[19] As of 2026, Andy Pymer is the chief financial officer.[5]
Francis Yeoh, a long-serving director of YTL Corporation and currently the executive chairman of the conglomerate, is non-executive chairman of the board of Wessex Water.[17]
Environmental and safety record
May 1998 – Found guilty of discharging over 1 million gallons of raw sewage into a Weymouth, Dorset, marina on August Bank Holiday Monday 1997, the busiest day of the year. The company was fined £5,000 with £500 costs.[20][21]
March 1999 – Ranked 4th in the top ten list of "worst polluters" in England by the Environment Agency.[22][23]
May 2002 – Fined £8,000 for causing pollution in Dowlais Brook, Cwmbran in June 2001.[24]
April 2003 – Fined £5,000 with £1,000 costs at Minehead Magistrates' Court after pleading guilty to causing poisonous, noxious or polluting matter to enter the Washford River in Somerset.[25]
July 2003 – Described by the Environment Agency as one of the worst "repeat offenders" for pollution incidents.[26]
2004 – Fined six times for environmental pollution incidents.[27]
May 2007 – Fined £1,500 with £1,589 costs by Bristol magistrates after pleading guilty to one offence under the Water Resources Act 1991 of causing sewage to enter controlled waters. Untreated sewage had been allowed to pollute the River Frome in July 2006. The river was polluted again with untreated sewage at Frampton Cotterell in February 2007 and April 2007.[28][29]
April 2008 – Fined £3,000 with £1,960 costs for allowing sewage to pollute the River Stour.[30]
3 December 2020 − Four people, three of them Wessex Water employees, were killed in an explosion at a company site in Avonmouth, where GENeco ran a bio-methane anaerobic digestor.[31] The official investigation into this were closed in 2024 due to "insufficient evidence" for a manslaughter conviction.[32]
↑McCarthy, Michael (29 May 1998). "Water firms pollute rivers every week". The Independent. London. p.7. ProQuest document ID 312690147.
↑"Make the polluter pay the full price". The Independent. London. 3 September 1998. p.3. ProQuest document ID 312727468.
↑Houlder, Vanessa (22 March 1999). "ICI Chemicals tops league table for pollution fines". Financial Times. London. p.7. ProQuest document ID 248234166.
↑Gregoriadis, Linus (22 March 1999). "ICI tops list of Britain's filthiest companies; The Worst Polluters". The Independent. London. p.4. ProQuest document ID 312834884.
↑"Water companies fined". Western Mail. Cardiff. 22 May 2002. p.3. ProQuest document ID 341229258.
↑Brown, Paul (31 July 2003). "Pollution still pays as firms shrug off fines: League table of offenders fails to stem neglect". The Guardian. London. p.11. ProQuest document ID 246008755.
↑Adams, Guy (30 September 2005). "Muddied waters?". The Independent. London. p.14. ProQuest document ID 310834496.
↑Harding, Julie (25 May 2007). "Water firm fined over sewage spill". Evening Post. Bristol. p.59. ProQuest document ID 333779177.
↑"Water firm fined £3,000 for pollution". Western Daily Press. Bristol. 25 May 2007. p.31. ProQuest document ID 334606821.
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