Thames Water- Finished?

[glazbagun]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67696645

Good old private sector, eh? From what I remember those responsible for the debts got out while the going was good, but I can't see any reason not to let them go to the wall.

[ReallyReallyGood]

They’re going down the toilet.

[hidetheelephants]

Oh dear; how sad, never mind. Once it crashes it can be nationalised. Without the insane leveraging it might actually function.

[TTmonkey]

Wow another massive hole for the government to piss tax payers money into.


What a mess.

[eharding]

As far as I can tell, the largest Thames Water shareholders are the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, China's sovereign wealth fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and Abu Dhabi's Infinity.

If it was allowed to fail, Bing's AI rendering of the outcome looks like this. HTH.

[hidetheelephants]

eharding said:

As far as I can tell, the largest Thames Water shareholders are the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, China's sovereign wealth fund, the Universities Superannuation Scheme, and Abu Dhabi's Infinity.

If it was allowed to fail, Bing's AI rendering of the outcome looks like this. HTH.

The value of investments may go down as well as up. HTH. It's not my problem they've been irresponsible shareholders.

[CoolHands]

CHINA!

so how much money was allowed out the company in dividends over the years? - Just looked it up, £7.2 billion

And here’s a nice graphic of the spiralling debt

[hidetheelephants]

Pretty good going given the assets are maybe worth a tenth of that.

[abzmike]

Would this happen to be another formerly publicly owned company that is regulated poorly? There really does seem to be a pattern here…

[Diderot]

Meanwhile we have to put up with their st.

[otherman]

hidetheelephants said:

Pretty good going given the assets are maybe worth a tenth of that.

Good luck building sewers and water mains at £6 per m.

[smifffymoto]

All infrastructure has been sold off for short term profit previous Governments.

Only now is it coming back to slap the tax payer in the face.
Most people with any common sense could see this scenario from a mile away.

[Biker 1]

smifffymoto said:

All infrastructure has been sold off for short term profit previous Governments.

Only now is it coming back to slap the tax payer in the face.
Most people with any common sense could see this scenario from a mile away.

I remember Thatcher's great sell off....
Are any of the previously nationalised companies giving Joe Public decent service??

[borcy]

What's the going rate for nationalisation if it comes to that?

[vaud]

Biker 1 said:

I remember Thatcher's great sell off....
Are any of the previously nationalised companies giving Joe Public decent service??

BT is way better than before. There used to be (long) waiting lists to have a phone installed.

[heisthegaffer]

vaud said:

Biker 1 said:

I remember Thatcher's great sell off....
Are any of the previously nationalised companies giving Joe Public decent service??

BT is way better than before. There used to be (long) waiting lists to have a phone installed.

I don't know enough about this so not trying to be contrary but surely some of this is due to tech implementation?

Or perhaps a bit of both?

[Murph7355]

heisthegaffer said:

vaud said:

Biker 1 said:

I remember Thatcher's great sell off....
Are any of the previously nationalised companies giving Joe Public decent service??

BT is way better than before. There used to be (long) waiting lists to have a phone installed.

I don't know enough about this so not trying to be contrary but surely some of this is due to tech implementation?

Or perhaps a bit of both?

Likely both. But there are still throwbacks to the 70s in the industry who you can see are still clinging on to their old ways. I'd put it down to organisation and genuine competition coming into the market (increasingly so now).

Biker 1 said:

I remember Thatcher's great sell off....
Are any of the previously nationalised companies giving Joe Public decent service??

Were they before privatisation? Did privatisation happen because they were a crock of st money pit?

Water should never have been privatised. There's no ability for genuine competition, and it's a critical resource.

The same could possibly be argued for energy in this country.

But I think we've seen over the decades that changing govt bodies to run better from inside is seemingly impossible. So maybe the privatisation shake up was needed.

Renationalise by taking over the busted flushes. No money to current owners etc.

Meanwhile, much better regulation is required to stop companies paying out billions in dividends when they are racking up more billions in debt.

[robbieduncan]

heisthegaffer said:

I don't know enough about this so not trying to be contrary but surely some of this is due to tech implementation?

Or perhaps a bit of both?

Or a complete change in demand profile. We don’t have a landline. Haven’t for years. Don’t want one

[S600BSB]

Sadly yet another example of Tory failure.

[sugerbear]

heisthegaffer said:

I don't know enough about this so not trying to be contrary but surely some of this is due to tech implementation?

Or perhaps a bit of both?

BT had a monopoly. Technology and competition

I still think openreach should be nationalised as that is infrastructure and they have no competition. Its just taken 12 days to have a phone installed at a property someone i know has moved into.