Who we are

The Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Act received the Royal Assent on June 14, 1853.

This set up a company to supply fresh water to the town and university as a commercial enterprise. The company remained privately owned until 1996, when it became a Public Limited Company. In 2011, Cambridge Water PLC was purchased by South Staffordshire Plc. For more details please read our press release.

The acquisition is unconditional although is subject to an automatic referral to the Competition Commission due to South Staffordshire’s ownership of another water supplier.

No staff changes are planned as a result of this change in ownership. Customers’ charges are fixed for 5-year periods by The Water Services Regulation Authority (OFWAT) and the current profile of prices runs until the end of March 2015.

South Staffordshire Plc has extensive experience in the water industry through its ownership of South Staffordshire Water PLC, which supplies water services to Walsall and other parts of the West Midlands and, like Cambridge Water, was founded in 1853 and provides high levels of service, coupled with low charges. It also owns a number of other companies supplying services to the utilities sector.

Cambridge Water is aware of the central position it holds in the community, and is satisfied that South Staffordshire understands this.

Adrian Page, Executive Director of South Staffordshire said: “Cambridge Water has sought and received assurances from us that the company will continue to be operated with a view to maintaining the current high standards of service delivery. South Staffordshire is concerned to protect the integrity of Cambridge Water, an objective shared by the local non-executive directors and the management of the company.”

Cambridge Water Managing Director, Stephen Kay commented: “At Cambridge Water our commitment is to deliver quality water and excellent service to our customers. This remains unchanged under our new owners. We know the management at South Staffordshire well and understand their commitment to the water industry both through their regulated business and having contracted their subsidiary companies over a number of years to install water treatment equipment.”

The three key sections of Cambridge Water's business are:

1. Operations: This section manages the running, maintenance and on-going development of our network of pipes, pumping stations and storage facilities.

2. Retail: This section provides our customer service, which includes reading meters, producing bills, assisting customers by phone, arranging for payment of bills and administering other products and services we provide to our customers.

3. Resources: This section includes Finance, HR and IT.

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