Date: September 2026
Jenny Jones, a Green Party peer, has written in the Guardian about withholding the sewage portion of her Thames Water bill, and her reasoning will sound very familiar if you’ve read anything else on this site.
She traces her decision back to a Guardian headline from July 2025 reporting that serious pollution incidents by English water companies had risen 60% in a year, with Thames Water named the worst offender. “Living in London means that my supplier is Thames Water, which makes a profit out of pollution,” she writes. “I decided that if the government wouldn’t act, I could at least do my part and not pay for this travesty.”
Her argument extends beyond sewage. She points out that water companies have imposed hosepipe bans despite one of the wettest winters on record, because they haven’t built enough reservoir capacity, while roughly a fifth of all public water supply is lost to leaks that never get fixed. And she makes the same point I have made on this site repeatedly: a large portion of customer bills doesn’t go toward fixing any of this. It goes toward interest payments on debt that ultimately funds shareholder dividends.
Jones wrote to Thames Water explaining she would pay for water supply but not for sewage treatment. Their response, she says, was that they don’t split the bill that way – followed by a threatening letter and an increased bill with penalty charges added.
She’s honest about where this could lead. “The letters are unpleasant, and there has been mention of bailiffs, so I don’t recommend anyone else going into this lightly,” she writes. “I will calmly read all the threatening letters and await the court case against me.”
Why this matters for Southern Water customers
I’ve written about my own experience of this on the about page of this site – two rounds of withholding, debt collectors, and an ongoing complaint I’m currently escalating to CCW. Jones’s situation with Thames Water is more advanced than mine and the risk she’s facing is real, which is exactly why I’ve always tried to be upfront about the risks here rather than downplaying them.
What strikes me most about her piece is this line: “win or lose in court, by taking on Thames Water I know I can only win in terms of my own self-respect.” That’s close to how I feel about my own situation. This isn’t about the money for me either. It’s about not quietly accepting a bill for a service that isn’t being delivered.
Jones also makes a point worth repeating: “Even a few million of us delaying the payment of our bills by several months would threaten the viability of these water companies.” You don’t have to withhold indefinitely, and you don’t have to be a member of the House of Lords, for this to matter. Every person who withholds, even briefly, adds to the pressure.
Read Jenny Jones’s full piece in the Guardian
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