plan for collapse of Thames Water

[Mrwong]

Looks like they might collapse, pass on the debt to the government. These companies have piled on the debt, extracted the wealth and left the bones.
Most likely give it a few weeks and the Gov will end up taking it over.
Fix it up and them sell it again, as the debt is too large for any company to take onboard.

Ministers weigh contingency plan for collapse of Thames Water

Whitehall officials and Ofwat, the water regulator, have begun assessing the scope for a special administration of the UK’s biggest water company, Sky News learns.

news.sky.com

Thames Water boss Sarah Bentley resigns with immediate effect after giving up bonus over sewage spills​

I guess she is running away from this mess.

Thames Water boss Sarah Bentley resigns with immediate effect after giving up bonus over sewage spills

The announcement comes just weeks after it was reported that Ms Bentley will receive pay and perks worth £1.6m this year. That is despite Thames Water saying she would give up her bonus due to the water industry's continued struggles with sewage outflows and leaky pipes.

news.sky.com

 

[Mrwong]

Wait till they pass on 30% increase to you water bill

 

[Mrwong]

I was surprised it said the company hasn't paid a dividend to it's owners in 6 years. That being said I'd like to know how on earth it's built up a £14bn debt! And why alarm bells weren't starting to ring when it hit 1-2 bn debt rather than 14.

former head of OFWAT went from public to private. All these regulators are just scum.

 

[Mrwong]

Water firms’ debts since privatisation hit £54bn as Ofwat refuses to impose limits.

England’s privatised water firms paid £57bn in dividends since 1991

Hum. And yet every single government failed to connect the dots.

 

[Mrwong]

Beyond words.

Hardly Thames water customers fault is it?

Complete unsurprising shambles as always under the Conservatives watch (and initiation during the 80's).

Do not forget labour.

 

[Mrwong]

And a lot of the major private sector businesses leech off the public sector.

We're well beyond this simplistic sort of nonsense of "private sector good, public sector bad".

But ultimately the money comes from the private sector.

 

[Mrwong]

Tell @Sankari. Classing the private sector as the epitome of greed is not helpful even if in this instance it may have some truth.

Because they have sticky fingers, and most of those associated have influenced the crappy mps of our country for 30 years plus.

 

[Mrwong]

We don't mind paying for it all though right? Right...
Privatised profits, nationalised losses. What a load of ********.

That's how they become wealthy at the expense of everyone.
I also think it strange that everything is coming about since we left the EU.

I guess it is the best time to come clean.

 

[Mrwong]

Interesting, I cannot find a single story about this Thames debacle on the BBC News website.

e: framed somewhat differently, relating to sewage and not financial woes - link.

Not the BBC but itv.

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2023-06-28/government-reportedly-considering-contingency-plan-for-thames-water-collapse

 

[Mrwong]

Great another thousand page thread incoming with people panic buying bottles of water and bragging about having installed buckets on their roof lol..

You think we will run out of water, should I stock up.

 

[Mrwong]

And in other (Sky) news...
''Water bills could rise 40% to pay for the cost of tackling the sewage crisis and the consequences of climate change, according to a report in The Times.

Water companies are said to be proposing hikes after they alarmed ministers by saying they need extra money to meet pollution targets.

The rises are due to be announced next year, The Times reports.

Annual bills could increase from an average of about £450 to £680, plus inflation.

Water prices already rose in April by up to 11% in some areas.

The Times reports that prices rises will be different across the country.

Southern Water is proposing increasing bills from £432 to a minimum of £677 by 2030 - and it could be as high as £793, the report says. South East Water is planning to increase its bills by as much as 39% by 2030, according to the newspaper. The figure for Thames Water is 20%.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will raise the issue with water regulator Ofwat today.''

Lol this was already planned, they needed to find the right moment.

 

[Mrwong]

What gets me is, for some reason these ceos and board are paid these huge sums of money.
Yes, I'd say it's justified when a company is properly run etc. But so so many are being run into the ground. How can these salaries be justified?




Its time capitalism took a step back. Because on this path it isn't working.

Oh it is working, just not the way people think capitalism is run.

 

[Mrwong]

Company needs to fold, no bailout for creditors.

 

[Mrwong]

From what I've read they didn't pay external dividends, I'm not sure what those are exactly, but "continued to pay dividends to service its debts, including a £37.1 million payment to its parent company last year".

Sub company used to traffic money, reduce tax bill and then pays it out. This is a sneaky way to reduce taxation. Tell the public that no dividends were paid to shareholders.

It is just smoke and mirrors.

 

[Mrwong]

The problem is to re-nationalise these company's would cost us an absolute fortune now as we'd have to pay something like the market cap value for the shareholders. So it does seem we've been royally screwed over by Maggie and her ilk.

Different to renationalising the trains, where we just have to wait for the current licences to expire and not renew them.

Not, if we have to bail them out. The company is worth nothing after its debts are taken into account.
Over the years they sold off lots of assets.

The government trying to keep foreign pension funds happy.

 

[Mrwong]

At the very least, the government has to take on its debts (14bn in this case). Possibly having already guaranteed the debts will be paid, like they did iirc with train franchises.

As somebody else said above, privatise the profits, nationalise the losses. It's always the way.

The other thing is, it's amazing how people still don't understand that privatising effective monopolies can and never will work. It's not like you could ever choose your water company.

And Cameron was seriously thinking about privatising (selling off) the motorways... they just don't learn, do they.

Don't get me started with Cameron, he and May were the worst.

Thames Water boss to forgo bonuses as dividend scrutiny on suppliers intensifies - CityAM

The boss of Thames Water will forgo performance related pay this year, with the supplier's turnaround plans still behind schedule.

www.cityam.com

 

[Mrwong]

It's strange how the news reported the amount of dividends handed out by the water companies since privatisation and the debt are almost the same. It's like there's a link some how. Weird.

Lol, just weird init.

 

[Mrwong]

Just going through them.

- Thames Water debt £13.4bn. 15 million customers. £893/customer
- United utilities £7.6bn. 3 million customers. £2533/customer
- Anglian £6.8bn. 4.3 million customers. £1581/customer.
- Severn trent £6.5bn. 4.8 million customers. £1354/customer.
- Southern £6.0bn. 2.5 million customers. £2400/customer.
- Yorkshire £5.7bn. 5.7 million customers. £1000/customer.
- Northumbrian £3.2bn. 2.7 million customers. £1185/customer.
- Wessex £2.4bn. 2.9 million customers. £828/customer.
- South West £2.3bn. 1.7 million customers. £1353/customer.

Well whoever were the advisors on that deal may be liable. Unfortunately, the debt it there, and they will not pay towards it.
The main companies do not own the shares directly, the shares are held in holding companies, if it becomes to expensive they will close it.

 

[Mrwong]

This to me is a turning point for the UK. We desperately need electoral reform to stop this, otherwise why have one party invest whilst the next cuts?

Voters are stupid, one specific group (the grey, wealthy) have huge sway by voting en mass for Tory and he younger lot can't be bothered. Everyone else is along for the ride stuck in middle watching a slow car crash of economic incompetence and corruption.

Boomers have left us with another mess. lol they just keep on giving these boomers.

 

[Mrwong]

Dude to be fair you were moving a year or so ago. Are you even a native in the first place?

You think moving to another country is that easy?
It is not like moving to another part of the county.