plan for collapse of Thames Water
- Thread starter Mrwong
- Start date
You think we will run out of water, should I stock up.
If you read the thread on here then you should expect a humanitarian crisis but otherwise in the real world no.
All those Amazon bucks with Bezos' face on them and all that Thames water money with Sarah Bentley's signature on them.
Soldato
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.''
''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.
I assume any bailout will be placed on Thames Water customer bills rather than the rest of the UK?
I wonder this.
Its obviously (in general) the most affluent area of the UK.
Soldato
Well a lot of people weren't with failed energy suppliers but have ended up paying for those failures...
We're just getting more and more screwed.
Soldato
- Joined
- 1 Oct 2006
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The problems are oversight, regulation and enforcement. Private sector companies should like you say be able to innovate and deliver a lean service, but they're more susceptible to greed and shareholders get the final say.
Privatise without listing the company, hold the private company publicly accountable and set break points where if company doesn't do something (fix leaks, stop sewage running into water supplies, stop being ****) then the contract goes to tender/administrators roll in/whatever.
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?
"you have to pay this much to get the best" often comes out. Doesn't look like it matters does it. It has to be time to start looking at how bosses and senior suck the money out of essential (all really) and big corps.
Its time capitalism took a step back. Because on this path it isn't working.
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?
"you have to pay this much to get the best" often comes out. Doesn't look like it matters does it. It has to be time to start looking at how bosses and senior suck the money out of essential (all really) and big corps.
Its time capitalism took a step back. Because on this path it isn't working.
Energy is different though in that you can switch. Water you have a captive audience.
If the company was run correctly this shouldn't have happened. Maybe water is too cheap? Maybe thames have been under charging? Bonuses and exec pay aside... They didn't pay dividends for years I read.
Caporegime
And yet we keep hearing 'tHe PrObLeM wItH tHe PuBlIc SeCtOr Is ThAt iT rEwArDs FaIlUrE!' from the private sector.
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Different market, different business model, not remotely comparable.
People didn’t pay for collapsed companies, the money was for paying for customers credit balances which were landed on those who were left in the market. They also collapsed at exactly the point in which people had the highest balances - going into winter.
Check your water credit balance, mines never more than +\-£20. My energy can be +\-£500 depending on the time of year.
Oh it is working, just not the way people think capitalism is run.
Soldato
That nice Mr. Blair had 11 years to re-nationalise it and didn’t.
I‘m not excusing privatised utilities or strategic industries as that’s always been a horrifically bad idea.
70k? If that's true that's beyond ridiculous. That's nearly 200 occurrences every single day.
I can sort of get behind when they say the sewers have overflowed due to storm water, as a storm can drop many cm of rain in a very short space of time. But these downpours are maybe a dozen a year.
To have 200 occurrences a day is just deliberate bordering negligent.
Soldato
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That's my point about accountability, there is none of it. We reward failure by letting them walk away with a golden parachute and a consulting gig until they retire. Or worse, another high profile job with a 7 figure salary.
There needs to be criminal accountability in these cases, squandering billions of public money needs to have a penalty. Not just for companies, but for governments too.
Elizabeth Holmes obtained money by deception in the Theranos case, and delivered nothing and went to prison. Different country granted, but same principles should apply here to private companies delivering public services. Consistently for the public and not just when a wealthy shareholder with enough clout gets aggrieved.