291,492 sewage spills. Then the bill went up again.

Down 35% on 2024. The Environment Agency attributes much of the fall to the weather rather than to fixed pipes: 2025 was significantly drier than a particularly wet 2024, and overflow activity tracks rainfall closely.

Against 31.8 in 2024. A storm overflow is designed for occasional use in exceptional rainfall, so an average of one discharge every eighteen days is still routine operation rather than exception.

Duration fell faster than the count, so spills were both fewer and shorter, with the average event about 20% shorter than in 2024.

Coverage matters more than it sounds. Any comparison with years before 2023 sets a full count against a partial one, so older totals understate the problem rather than showing things were better.

Category 1 and 2 incidents, the ones that cause significant environmental harm. This is the measure that did not improve.

Thames Water, Southern Water and Yorkshire Water. Northumbrian Water and Wessex Water recorded none, which is the strongest evidence that this is a company failure rather than an unavoidable feature of running a sewer network.

The lowest total since the star ratings began in 2011, down from 25 in 2023. Only Severn Trent achieved four stars.

Up £33, or 5.4%, from April 2026. An average across companies and household types, so an individual bill can differ substantially.

The largest single-year rise since privatisation, and the reason the 2026 increase looks small. Judge the two years together rather than one at a time.

About 300,000 more than the year before, with an average discount of around 40%. Support this widespread is itself a measure of how far bills have outrun incomes.

Companies bid for what they want to spend and charge, the regulator decides, and the settlement then runs for five years. Public anger in year two cannot change a number already fixed in year one.