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A water company has splashed out £380m on buying a rival utilities company despite campaigners urging it to invest in fixing sewage discharge problems.
Pennon, which owns South West Water, has bought Sumisho Osaka Gas Water UK, the holding company of Sutton and East Surrey Water.
Chief executive Susan Davy said the takeover would expand the company’s water supply across Southern England “building on our successful similar acquisitions of Bournemouth Water and Bristol Water alongside the adoption of water supply in the Isles of Scilly”.
The company was fined £2.15m in April last year for illegally dumping sewage into rivers and the sea in Devon and Cornwall, following an investigation by the Environment Agency that found South West Water culpable for significant environmental harm.
Last year Ofwat said South West Water had fallen short of its expectations on customer and environmental performances linked to bonuses.
This year the regulator will be able to block companies from paying out bonuses from customer bills.
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