NORTHUMBRIAN Water has been named one of the worst-performing water companies.

It comes after Ofwat - the water services regulator - published its annual performance report looking at how water companies are serving customers and the environment.

Southern Water, South West Water, Thames Water, Welsh Water and Yorkshire Water were also named as poorly performing in the report.

Ofwat CEO David Black said: “In too many areas, water and wastewater companies are falling short when it comes to looking after customers, the environment and their own financial resilience. We are clear; these companies need to address this unacceptable performance as a matter of urgency.

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“For some companies, poor performance has become the norm. This cannot go on. We are requiring the worst performers to return around £120m to customers.

“We are taking enforcement action on wastewater treatment works compliance, as well as consulting on licence changes that will help us drive through the transformation needed across the water industry.”

The report shows Northumbrian Water was at or better than performance commitment level for customer satisfaction, mains repairs, unplanned outage, pollution incidents and sewer collapses but fell short on priority services, leakage, per capita consumption, supply interruptions, water quality, internal sewer flooding, and treatment works compliance.

The company must now develop a clear action plan to improve.

A Northumbrian Water Group spokeswoman said: "We’re disappointed by Ofwat’s assessment and do not feel it fully reflects our performance or the experience of our customers.

“The assessment looks at our performance on a smaller number of the different services that we deliver for customers and the environment.

“We are proud to have some of the best performance in the industry for customer service, are on track to be first in the sector to achieve net zero for carbon in the fight against climate change and were one of a small number of companies to achieve a four-star Environmental Performance Assessment rating, however, we also acknowledge that in some areas, we need to continue to improve.

“We are investing £3.2 billion in significant capital schemes and innovative solutions that will help fully deliver all our commitments to customers now and in the future.”