Thames Water’s “blatant and greedy” attempts to rake in more cash from the public have been slammed by campaigners. The water company launched a bid to charge its customers more over the next five years than the industry regulator will allow.

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.

Watford's sewerage service provider Thames Water is asking the competition regulator to allow it to charge customers even more.