A WATER company is today facing a record £35.8 million fine for deliberately providing false data to industry regulator Ofwat and providing poor customer service.

A WATER company is today facing a record £35.8 million fine for deliberately providing false data to industry regulator Ofwat and providing poor customer service.

Severn Trent Water was accused of misreporting customer service data during 2005 and earlier years, as well as "substandard" service. Severn's actions resulted in customers paying higher bills than they should have done, Ofwat said.

The regulator said the company's shareholders would bear the entire cost of the proposed penalty. "It cannot be passed onto its customers,' Ofwat said.

Severn said today it was lowering bills by £2.40 per household to ensure it had not profited from the episode.