Thames Water fined 10 mln stg for poor service

LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Britain's biggest water company Thames Water said on Thursday it had been fined nearly 10 million pounds ($19.73 million) by regulator Ofwat for poor customer service and misreporting information.

The company said the fine was revised down from an original penalty of 12.5 million pounds set last September. The offences took place across 12 months in 2005 and 2006.

"We are pleased that Ofwat have accepted our representations on the level of the fine. This is still a high figure considering that the failures were unintentional ... but we welcome the reduction," Thames Chief Executive David Owens said in a statement.

He added that the company, owned by a consortium including Australian bank Macquarie MBL.AX, accepted responsibility for the errors, which took place under previous management.

Ofwat said the fine amounted to 0.7 percent of company turnover, well below the maximum amount of 10 percent.

"Thames Water's systems and processes were inadequate and customers lost out," Ofwat Chief Executive Regina Finn said.

The regulator fined water company Severn Trent (SVT.L) 36 million pounds earlier this month, an amount that could rise due to separate charges by the Serious Fraud Office.

(Reporting by John Bowker)