A London resident who has been without water for more than three days has said Thames Water’s plan to charge customer even more than previously agreed is “just greed”. Leigh McAlpine, 44, who lives in the SE20 area of Crystal Palace in south London,

Thames Water has launched an appeal to allow it to increase bills by more than the regulator wants to permit. The UK's largest utility company is calling on the competition regulator to overturn a decision from the water industry regulator, Ofwat, which caps bill rises at 35% over the next five years.

British utility Thames Water lodged an appeal to the country's competition regulator on Friday, beginning a process to try to raise the prices it can charge customers for the next five years and improve its chances of survival.

Troubled Thames Water has appealed against an inflation-busting price rise agreed by regulator Ofwat, arguing it was doing so “in the interests of our customers and the environment"

Thames Water has launched an appeal to the competition regulator as the embattled utility fights to secure an eye-watering 53 per cent rise in consumer bills and keep itself afloat.

It said steeper increases than the 35% already granted over the next five years is ‘in the interests of our customers and the environment’.

Industry regulator Ofwat has capped bill rises for the firm at 35% over the next five years. Thames Water has now urged the competition regulator to overturn the decision from the