The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) welcomed the “swift decision” make the payment to all households and businesses that were affected by the disruption since the early hours of Sunday (11 December) morning.
CCWater’s northern chair Robert Light said: “We’re disappointed that customers have suffered this disruption but we’re pleased that United Utilities is acting swiftly to compensate them. We think the payment fairly reflects the inconvenience this has caused customers, as well as the additional energy costs of having to boil drinking water.
“Consumers expect a reliable supply of drinking water so we will need to understand whether UU could have done anything differently to prevent this incident from happening and what lessons the company is going to learn from it.”
The notice to boil tap water was issued after a fault was detected at the Buckton Castle water treatment works. This problem has now been rectified and the compensation payout will be made automatically to all affected customers this week.
The company also said it will consider claims from customers who feel they have incurred additional costs due to exceptional circumstances.