Posted 4 days ago
Thames Water 40% bill rises predicted
Isnt this outrageous, when they keep polluting our waterways unabated ? How much have they actually invested ? I can bet that if we have a dry sumer, they will be the first to impose a garden water ban, yet have not invested in new capacity/reservoirs.
Picked this up form Hansard (Parliament debates):
"
Dame Angela Eagle
(Wallasey) (Lab)
Sharethis specific contribution
When they were privatised, water companies had all the debt written off, so they started with zero. Since then, they have borrowed £53 billion, much of which has been used to help pay £72 billion in dividends. The investment has been made by borrowing and putting it on to customers’ bills. Now, the ratings agency S&P has negative outlooks for two thirds of the UK water companies it rates, because they are over-leveraged and took out too much debt in an era of low interest, which they now have to pay back. This is not a triumph but a huge problem for the resilience of our water industry. What will the Minister do when water companies start falling over?
"
So the dividends were shipped out of the country (foreign shareholders) and borrowed to the hilt to finance "improvements" of which one sees not much out there.
Scandalous, me thinks.
Picked this up form Hansard (Parliament debates):
"
Dame Angela Eagle
(Wallasey) (Lab)
Sharethis specific contribution
When they were privatised, water companies had all the debt written off, so they started with zero. Since then, they have borrowed £53 billion, much of which has been used to help pay £72 billion in dividends. The investment has been made by borrowing and putting it on to customers’ bills. Now, the ratings agency S&P has negative outlooks for two thirds of the UK water companies it rates, because they are over-leveraged and took out too much debt in an era of low interest, which they now have to pay back. This is not a triumph but a huge problem for the resilience of our water industry. What will the Minister do when water companies start falling over?
"
So the dividends were shipped out of the country (foreign shareholders) and borrowed to the hilt to finance "improvements" of which one sees not much out there.
Scandalous, me thinks.
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40 Comments
sorted byClick bait. It isn't predicted at all.
Just let Thames Water go bankrupt & the Government can compulsary purchase it for a £1.
Needs to go back into Government ownership then a domino effect with all the rest of them.
"You have to ask yourself the question why would an equity holder who is taking all the risk take on a lower return than buying a bond in the market," (edited)
everybody wants lower bills, no one wants sewage discharged into water courses,
no wants wants sewage in their homes, no one wants their homes flooded, shareholders want a return on their investment.
the water companies would need to invest billions over decades whilst trying to keep everyone happy.
They will eventually be pressured to make the investments but expect customer bills to massively increase annually for many years to come.
they can’t magic money from nothing, the customer pays for everything. A lot of water companies are already in financial problems. The government will complain about the water companies to please voters but they don’t want the problem of running them. If water companies go bust and the government will be forced to bail them out, the government don’t want the problem of taking them back into state control. If the government owns the water companies expect massive tax increases to pay for the work and don’t expect the government to do the work, they say the right things but will drag the feet passing the problem to the next government.
So you, the customer, have already paid for it - and now they want you to pay for it again...
twitter.com/Lof…414
£72 Billion in dividends paid over the years, 53 Billion debts. They have squeezed the company dry and loaded with debt. Who cares if its nationalised now ! Let the Govt (or new owners) carry the burden, ultimately paid for by us, the consumers.
I think the Thatcherite ideology of everything privatised pendulum has swung so far to the other extreme, that its became a free for all, to rip off Britain any which way you can, thanks to lack of oversight and regulations by the toothless tigers and hand in glove politicians.
Essential utilities (Water, Electricity, Gas, Telecoms, Internet, Railways ) must and ought to have been under the strictest regulations and cost controls. Seems the Govt. is working for the companies , rather then its citizens.
Of course they are ! And not just the Tories !
Every MP that gets elected joins the Gravy train . No matter what they tell you in election blurb , all politicians are in the system for what they can get personally . Trust none of the bar stewards !
telegraph.co.uk/new…ce/
Its a dire warning to athletes.
telegraph.co.uk/bus…er/
theguardian.com/env…ows
im not metered but the jump has surprised me.
im with Severn Trent so it’s not just Thames water.
theguardian.com/env…arn
Its a very subtle ploy to plant stories so that the population is not shocked or taken by surpirse, by saying we warned you, in March !
With record rainfall for the past 18 months (as per the article) , why has none of the water companies deemd fit to build new reservoirs and storage capacities is beyond comprehension.
They really treat us as fools, ready to be ripped off.