Campaigners have criticised a senior Southern Water executive after he complained that water companies are unfairly being painted with a “bad guy narrative”.
George Eykyn, the company’s new corporate affairs director, said the negative portrayal of water firms was leading to greater abuse of people working in the industry.
His comments were praised by Southern Water’s chief executive as “great”, while others in the water and energy sectors applauded him for speaking out.
The heavily indebted company is planning to raise customer bills by 60 per cent between 2025 and 2030, the biggest increase of any water company. It argues that the money is needed to pay for new infrastructure to curb sewage spills and a water recycling plant to keep supplies running to Southampton during droughts.
“Unfortunately it seems that until we’re [on] the other side of the general election, the shallow bad guy narrative is going to continue,” Eykyn wrote this week on LinkedIn.
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Eykyn, who sits on the company’s executive board, did not specify who was creating the narrative. However, he said “public sentiment about water and waste has raced exponentially far ahead of the industry’s ability to keep pace” and accused politicians of “sprinting alongside, panting, claiming this was always their tune.”
Steve Barclay, the environment secretary, has taken a tougher stance on water firms than his predecessor, promising a bonus ban for bosses of polluting firms and, unsuccessfully, trying for a similar ban on dividends.
Ekykn said: “Undeniably, Britain’s national water and waste infrastructure badly needs improvement. Revenue from domestic bills has actually lost ground over the last decade or more, not even keeping up with inflation. Not an excuse — just a fact.”
But he said the “bad guy narrative” was not without consequence. “There’s an increasing willingness among the public to abuse water company staff, in person or on the phone. If you’ve got strong views on the ownership of the water industry, someone in high-vis trying to mend a burst main in darkness in your village on a cold December night is probably the wrong person to be venting at,” he added.
Campaigners said abuse of workers should be condemned, but were strongly critical of the comments.
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Feargal Sharkey, the water campaigner and former Undertones singer, said: “Apparently reinvigorated by its own arrogance, Southern Water now pleads for sympathy and understanding — oh, and more of our cash. It deserves little of the former and certainly none of the latter.”
Ed Acteson, co-founder of the SOS Whitstable campaign, said: “Such abuse [of workers] is unacceptable and undermines the work done by campaigners to hold the water industry to account.
“However, we also strongly contest George’s assertions that water companies are the victims of a ‘shallow, bad guy narrative’ which, in itself, is an attempt to control the argument in a way that makes it seem as though water companies have been unfairly treated, even going so far as to suggest that we aren’t currently being charged enough for the dreadful service provided,” Acteson said.
He said the public were “utterly fed up with the endless stream of excuses peddled by the water industry, the regulators and politicians”.
Water companies are a close second, behind farming, as the main reason for English waters failing to meet “good” ecological status.
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Southern Water discharged raw sewage into rivers and seas in Kent, Sussex and Hampshire almost 30,000 times last year amid wet weather, making it the seventh-biggest spiller out of the ten main wastewater firms in England. The company was given two out of four stars for their environmental record by regulators in 2022, up from one star a year before.
Eykyn’s comments were warmly welcomed by several staff members at Southern Water, and by figures in the energy sector.
The company’s chief executive, Lawrence Gosden, called him the “right person, right job, right time” and said the comments were “great”.
The firm’s water strategy manager said his post was “very well put” and said “there are plenty of people who seem to want to see the wheels fall off”. A director at Smart DCC, the company that hosts data from energy smart meters, said the “straight-talking approach will be a genuine asset to the water industry”. Others called the post “refreshing”, “thoughtful” and “candid”.
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem environment spokesman, said: “Southern Water are living on another planet if they think their polluting habits makes them the good guys. This post is an insult to all those communities blighted by their environmental scandals.”
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Eykyn is understood to be standing by his words. Southern Water declined to comment.
