Severn Trent

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Severn Trent plc

Type	Public (LSE: SVT)
Founded	1974
Headquarters	Birmingham, England, UK
Key people	Sir John Egan, Chairman Tony Wray, CEO
Industry	Utility
Revenue	£1,480 million (2007)
Operating income	£405 million (2007)
Net income	£269 million (2007)
Employees	12,461 (2007)
Website	www.severn trent.com

Severn Trent plc (LSE: SVT) is a British 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.

The main companies in the group are Severn Trent Water, Severn Trent Laboratories and Severn Trent Services.

It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991

1 Severn Trent Water
2 See also
3 External links
4 References

[edit] Severn Trent Water

Severn Trent Water is one of the ten privatised water companies in England. It supplies fresh water and treats sewage for around 8 million people in the Midlands of England and also certain regions of Wales. It takes its name from the two major rivers in this area, the Severn and the Trent.

[edit] Origins

The company was formed as the Severn-Trent Water Authority by the Water Act 1973, taking over the following public sector water supply utilities:^[1]

Birmingham Corporation
Coventry Corporation
Leicester Corporation
Nottingham Corporation
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
East Worcestershire Waterworks Company †
South Staffordshire Waterworks Company †

as well as two river authorities, responsible for control of water pollution:

Trent River Authority
Severn Trent Authority

† The Authority only exercised sewerage powers in the company's area, which continued to be a statutory water supply only company.

[edit] The company today

According to the company website,^[2] the company supplies over eight million customers, operates 45,674 kilometres of water mains and 53,325 kilometres of sewers.

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

In 2005, the company was ordered by Ofwat to repay £4M to customers that it overcharged them and is currently being investigated by the serious fraud office over financial irregularities. Additionally, in February 2006, following an internal investigation, the company admitted to have misreported Customer Relations data submitted to OFWAT, a number of senior level resignations followed this disclosure.

In October 2006 the waste company Biffa was demerged from the Severn Trent group and is now listed separately on the Stock Exchange. In January 2007 the American side of Severn Trent Laboratories was sold to HIG Capital. In September of 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 2009.