Thames Water got away with another cash grab from bill payers and the environment on 18 February when the courts approved a £3bn bailout which will let Thames stave off total collapse while preventing the company from falling into public ownership. The loan will require an extra £250 from each of Thames’ 16 million captive customers every year, to pay it off while Thames shareholders, creditors and senior executives will be allowed to continue to line their pockets at our expense.
The government and the regulator, Ofwat, have been criticised for failing to intervene while our water system was laid open to this further financial predation and environmental risk, but thankfully Windrush Against Sewerage Pollution (WASP) were there. Supported by their MP Charlie Maynard and a pro-bono legal team they were able to represent the public interest in court and they will be appealing the court’s disastrous decision in the weeks to come. See https://www.windrushwasp.org/single-post/throwing-almost-1billion-down-the-drain for details.
They’re not the only ones trying to protect us from the company that has extracted billions in profit while neglecting our water infrastructure and threatening our environment.
We Own It (details here) says of the loan decision “It is totally unacceptable that 16 million people are being forced to prop up a company that would have gone bust if it wasn’t providing an essential service”. They want to make sure that the government takes Thames back into public ownership permanently rather than allowing a special administrator to spend billions (of our money) making the company viable again before handing it back to private owners.
Compass, (details here) is running a national #OurWaterOurWay campaign to bring public ownership of water back on the table in this parliament with M.P. Clive Lewis’ new Water Bill due to be debated in Parliament on 28 March. Find out more here.
And of course Boycottthameswater.org will keep supporting Thames customers who have cancelled direct debits, lodged complaints or withheld payments. Write to us at [email protected] if you have any queries or noteworthy developments on your particular complaint/payment delay.