UNITED Utilities says it has beaten leakage targets for the third year in a row as it posted higher than expected annual profits.

The Warrington-based company, which serves the north west and has more than three million customers, outperformed water leakage targets from regulator Ofwat despite bad winter weather and serious pollution incidents were also more than 50 per cent lower.

Pre-tax profits for the year 2008 to March 31 were 11 per cent up at £529.8 million, with tight cost controls helping to offset lower water demand, higher depreciation and power costs.

Income from regulated water activities also increased by six per cent to £1.5 billion after water regulator Ofwat allowed the company to hike its prices by 7.8 per cent to support investment in infrastructure.

In a business plan recently submitted to Ofwat, United Utilities expects infrastructure spending of around £3.7 billion from 2010 to 2015, which will lead to an average annual price increase of 1.8 per cent.

The water giant said this maintained the ‘affordability’ of customer bills and was equivalent to an increase of seven pence a day by 2015.

Chief executive Philip Green added: “We expect investment in our assets to continue at high levels, providing further growth as well as environmental and customer benefits.”