CCWater welcomes swift payment of compensation for Boil Water Notice

The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) has welcomed United Utilities’ (UU) swift decision to pay £20 compensation to all 17,000 customers who have been affected by a boil water notice in parts of Greater Manchester

The region’s water company has confirmed it will make the payment to all households and businesses that have been affected by the disruption since the early hours of Sunday (December 11) morning.

The notice to boil tap water was issued to safeguard public health after a fault was detected at the Buckton Castle water treatment works. This has now been rectified and CCWater was consulted by United Utilities on the compensation payout which will be made automatically to all affected customers this week.

The company will also consider claims from customers who feel they have incurred additional costs due to exceptional circumstances.

Robert Light, Northern Chair of the Consumer Council for Water, said:

We’re disappointed that customers have suffered this disruption but we’re pleased that United Utilities is acting swiftly to compensate them. We think the payment fairly reflects the inconvenience this has caused customers, as well as the additional energy costs of having to boil drinking water. Consumers expect a reliable supply of drinking water so we will need to understand whether UU could have done anything differently to prevent this incident from happening and what lessons the company is going to learn from it.