Thames Water is being forced to return more than £101 million to bill-payers after missing their performance targets and ranking worst in the UK.

They are one of many water companies across the UK being forced to pay out by Ofwat for not meeting their targets.

Ofwat is an inspection agency which judges the performance of water companies in England and Wales each year against the “stretching” targets they set in 2019 for a five-year period.

These targets include things such as reducing pollution, leakage and supply, and when water companies fail to meet these, Ofwat restricts the amount of money they can take from customers.

For Thames Water, which supplies Swindon and North Wiltshire, this means a large £101 million bill.

“Customers are tired of not getting the service they deserve for the things they care about,” said Mike Keil, senior director at the Consumer Council for Water.

“It’s right and fair that people get their money back when they don’t receive the services they were promised by some water companies. People want assurance that their water bill is good value for money.”

Wiltshire Times: The repayment figures are shocking.The repayment figures are shocking. (Image: PA)

Southern Water which serves around 4.6 million people have ranked second worst behind Thames Water, and must also pay out £43 million.

Not one UK company achieved the regulator’s top category of “leading”, and over the last year, fewer than half of water companies reached their target of reducing pollution or met their commitment on leakage.

In total, the industry must pay £114 million.

“The targets we set for companies were designed to be stretching – to drive improvements for customers and the environment,” said David Black, CEO of Ofwat.

“However, our latest report shows they are falling short, leading to £114 million being returned to customers through bill reductions.

“While that may be welcome to bill payers, it is very disappointing news for all who want to see the sector do better,” he added.

Ofwat has said that it is investigating all 11 water and wastewater companies with live enforcement cases for six companies for potential failures on sewage discharges into the environment.

They are also investigating Dwr Cymru and South West Water in relation to the accuracy of leakage reporting and per capita consumption.

Thames Water have been approached for comment, but are yet to respond.