Yorkshire Water announced on Monday that the shareholders of Kelda Holdings Limited (KHL), parent of Yorkshire Water, have agreed to contribute £500 million to KHL by June 30 to support Yorkshire Water’s “accelerated investment programme.”

Yorkshire Water said the programme includes previously announced investment of £180 million to reduce storm overflow spills “as well as plans for improvement more generally.”

It said £400 million “will be down streamed immediately to YWS as a repayment of the intercompany loan from YWS to a subsidiary of KHL, exceeding the £300m June 2023 repayment agreed with Ofwat.”

Yorkshire Water and Kelda Holdings CEO Nicola Shaw said:  “This is a very significant financial commitment and statement of support by the owners of Yorkshire Water, providing the financial resources necessary as we embark on the biggest investment programme since privatisation, including undertaking our largest ever environmental investment programme between 2025 and 2030.”

In October 2022 regulator Ofwat announced that it had closed an enforcement case into Yorkshire Water after the company agreed “a structured plan to strengthen its financial resources in the interests of customers.”

Ofwat said this would involve Yorkshire Water “recovering two loans that it had made to other companies within its wider company group, totalling around £940m.”