Severn Trent plc (LSE: SVT) is a British public utility. It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Severn Trent is a group of companies employing more than 15,000 people across the UK, US and mainland Europe, with some involvement in the Middle East.

The main companies in the group are Severn Trent Water and Severn Trent Services. Severn Trent Laboratories was rebranded as part of Severn Trent Services in 2010 in order to better streamline the company to give a single worldwide image, rather than a series of separate organisations with different identities.

It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991.

History[link]

The Company was established in 1974 as the Severn Trent Water Authority, one of the ten water authorities in England formed under the Water Act 1973, to supply fresh water and treat sewage for around 8 million people living in the Midlands of England and also certain regions of Wales.^[2] It took its name from the two major rivers in this area, the Severn and the Trent.^[2] It was privatised in 1989^[2] and in 1991 it went on to acquire Biffa, a leading waste management business.^[2]

In October 2006 Biffa was demerged from the Severn Trent group and is now listed separately on the Stock Exchange.^[3] In January 2007 the American side of Severn Trent Laboratories was sold to HIG Capital.^[4] In September 2007 the company announced they would be closing their headquarters in Birmingham and relocating to a custom built office complex in the centre of Coventry in autumn 2010.^[5][6]

Utilities acquired[link]

The water authority took over the following public sector water supply utilities:^[7]

• Birmingham Corporation Water Department
  File:Sev Trent water.png

  Logo of Severn Trent Water
• Coventry Corporation
• Leicester Corporation
• City of Nottingham Water Department
• Stafford Corporation
• Wolverhampton Corporation
• Cannock Rural District Council
• Central Nottinghamshire Water Board
• Derwent Valley Water Board
• East Shropshire Water Board
• Montgomeryshire Water Board
• North Derbyshire Water Board
• North East Warwickshire Water Board
• North West Gloucestershire Water Board
• North West Leicestershire Water Board
• North West Worcestershire Water Board
• Rugby Joint Water Board
• South Derbyshire Water Board
• South Warwickshire Water Board
• South West Worcestershire Water Board
• Staffordshire Potteries Water Board
• West Shropshire Water Board

It did not take over the following water supply companies, but became the sewerage authority for the companies' areas. The companies continued to supply water as before:

• East Worcestershire Waterworks Company
• South Staffordshire Waterworks Company

It also took over two river authorities, responsible for control of water pollution:

• Trent River Authority
• Severn Trent Authority

Operations[link]

The company supplies about 3.7m households and businesses in its area.^[8]

Severn Trent Water has a call centre in Coventry dealing with operational emergencies and billing enquiries, and two other call centres in Derby and Shrewsbury which deal solely with billing enquiries. Its head office is the new custom built Severn Trent Centre in Coventry.

Regulation and Criticism[link]

Like other water companies in England, Severn Trent Water is regulated by OFWAT, the Water Services Regulation Authority.

In July 2008, OWAT confirmed that it had fined Severn Trent Water £35.8 million for deliberately providing false information to Ofwat and for delivering poor service to its customers.^[9]

In 2008 the Company was fined £2m (reduced from a previous judgement of £4m) for poor information reporting and covering up misleading leakage data.^[10]

Despite improvements, according to OFWAT the percentage leakages in 2010-2011 were still the worst in England and Wales at 27% representing 0.5 billion litres (500,000 tonnes) per day.^[11]

Mythe Water Treatment Works[link]

In July 2007 the Mythe Water Treatment Works near Tewkesbury became inundated with water from the River Severn during the Summer 2007 United Kingdom floods. The water coming in to the plant was contaminated and this led to the loss of all running water for approximately 150,000 people in Cheltenham, Gloucester and Tewkesbury.^[12]

Reservoirs[link]

The company operates a number of reservoirs, many of which are accessible for recreational use. These include:

• Carsington Reservoir – River Derwent compensation flow pumped storage facility (collapsed during construction)
• Clywedog reservoir
• Upper Derwent Valley (Derwent, Howden and Ladybower Reservoirs) – Built by "Derwent Valley Water Board" to supply the cities of Sheffield, Derby, Nottingham, and Leicester.
• Draycote Water
• Foremark Reservoir
• Lake Vyrnwy
• Tittesworth reservoir
• Ogston Reservoir – in the Amber Valley
• Severn Trent Water also runs the filtration works at the Elan Valley Reservoirs.

See also[link]

Companies portal

Biffa plc (formerly a subsidiary of Severn Trent which was demerged)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Severn Trent Water Homepage
• Severn Trent PLC
• Severn Trent Services Analytical Sevices, formerly Severn Trent Laboratories
• Severn Trent Company Information

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