United Kingdom @feddit.uk Zip2 @feddit.uk 1 day ago

Thames Water supply ‘on knife-edge’ with £23bn repairs needed

www.theguardian.com Thames Water supply ‘on knife-edge’ with £23bn repairs needed

Exclusive: Company has failed to tackle serious safety concerns or upgrade vital IT systems, Guardian investigation reveals

12 comments

Has to be bankrupted and nationalised now.
Yet they plan a massive shareholder payout https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/04/23/thames-water-plots-2bn-shareholders-despite-collapse-threat/

And paid over £7bn in dividends in the past https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jun/30/in-charts-how-privatisation-drained-thames-waters-coffers
"Saving" all that money... then forking out 9.5 million on yearly executive bonuses...
- While that's obviously gross, I'm not sure some budget public service pleb who wouldn't last 5 mins in a real business wouldn't simply make things worse
  
  You realize that when a business is privatized they don't give it to the civil service right?
  
  They bring in a CEO from the business world, The point is that CEO isn't then given marching orders to make as much money in the shorter time as possible.
Quick calculation: that’s ~£98.3k per person in the Thames Valley area.
- Thames Valley area
  
  Just FYI: Thames water covers a larger population than that. Much of London is not technically in the Thames valley.
  
  EDIT: I'll add. It's anecdotal, as I can't remember when or where I read it. But I seem to remember a Thames water complaint a good while back. That much of the older London area they cover has not been worked on for over 100 years. And is listed such that the cost is beyond them.
  
  Not sure if I buy it given modern techniques etc. But I'm no expert.
  
  You’re absolutely right. Thames water claim 16 million customers, so that brings it down to a much more manageable £14,375 per customer, based on us getting shafted equally.

You've viewed 12 comments.