UNITED Utilities faces a compensation bill of at least £15million after more than 300,000 customers had to boil their water for almost a month, with payouts from today.

The payments – ranging from £50 to £60 depending on when the advice to boil water was lifted – have been set following discussions with the customer champion, the Consumer Council for Water.

Customers in Mellor, Mellor Brook, Chorley and Abbey Village were among those told to boil their drinking water after the cryptosporidium parasite was discovered in supplies on August 6.

Gary Dixon, from United Utilities, said: “We are now starting to compensate those customers who have had the boil water notice lifted. We recognise that our customers have been significantly inconvenienced over the last few weeks and they rightly deserve to be compensated. The payment reflects that inconvenience and takes into account the additional cost for boiling the water and a refund for water services over the period.

“In coming to the right number we have consulted with the Consumer Council for Water. We are grateful for our customers’ cooperation and patience over the last few weeks.”

The company said it would take until the end of September to ensure all customers affected had received their cheques, due to the scale of the operation.

Mr Dixon added: “In addition to also receiving this automatic compensation payment, businesses that incurred extra costs or loss of earnings as a direct result of the boil water notice, will receive a separate letter on how to claim. We will review these on a case by case basis which will take longer but we will aim to deal with each as quickly and fairly as possible.”

Andy White, from the Consumer Council for Water, said: “Customers have suffered considerable disruption so we are pleased United Utilities is acting swiftly to compensate every customer. We believe the quick automatic payment will ensure most customers are not ‘out of pocket’ and are compensated for the disruption.”