Is Thames Water about to collapse?

[NoXion]

What fucking "help"?! These foreign investor cunts are more interested in using public utilities as their private piggy banks instead of actually maintaining them as the critical infrastructure that they are.

It baffles me that such absolutely essential services even have shareholders in the first place. Time and time again we see that such models of capitalisation generate perverse incentives leading to poor outcomes for service users and the environment. Not everything has to make money. It's good enough to have drinkable water and rivers that aren't full of shit.

 

[two sheds]

And what sort of fucking contract allows 'investors' to just suck money out of a company without making any of the infrastructure investments that we were told would come from privatization?

 

[brogdale]

And what sort of fucking contract allows 'investors' to just suck money out of a company without making any of the infrastructure investments that we were told would come from privatization?

One devised by the political wing of the beneficiaries of just such an arrangement.

 

[teqniq]

Please sign and share:

Don't bailout Thames Water's shareholders!

weownit.org.uk

 

[ska invita]

 

[brogdale]

View attachment 420104

Another recommendation for Brett Christophers' book 'Our Lives in their Portfolios; Why Asset Managers Own the World'

 

[Pickman's model]

Another recommendation for Brett Christophers' book 'Our Lives in their Portfolios; Why Asset Managers Own the World'

i think that book would rile me beyond what's humanly possible to endure. surely asset managers have names, addresses and so forth, just as politicians and bankers do

 

[brogdale]

i think that book would rile me beyond what's humanly possible to endure. surely asset managers have names, addresses and so forth, just as politicians and bankers do

It does, indeed, rile but it was so informative that I persevered and learnt a great deal that helped me understand the apparent nonsense of their neoliberal thieving. Genuinely recommend

 

[teqniq]

This is interesting as it goes into the mechanics of the looting, but I prefer nationalisation:

Private Equity is Out of Control and Looting America. This Prosecutor Says We Can Fix It.

In his new book, “Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan To Pillage America,” Brendan Ballou, a federal prosecutor who served as Special Counsel for Private Equity in the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, outlines the dangers of a trillion-dollar industry that hardly anyone understands. He...

www.ineteconomics.org

 

[Pickman's model]

It does, indeed, rile but it was so informative that I persevered and learnt a great deal that helped me understand the apparent nonsense of their neoliberal thieving. Genuinely recommend

yeh i've ordered the e-book so when there's an explosion in hackney you'll know i'm reading it

 

[yield]

Thames Water nationalisation plan could move bulk of £15bn debt to state

Exclusive: Under Whitehall blueprint for water company some lenders could lose up to 40% of their money

www.theguardian.com

 

[Poot]

Workers shouldn't be having to improvise a witty and politically coherent response to people getting up in their face giving them shit for doing their jobs.

Yes. Trust me, when you're one of the people actually on the ground trying your absolute best to fix things, and everyone thinks it's fine to give you abuse because it's the water company isn't it, and that's okay, it makes it bloody hard to improve matters. And let me be very clear, there are some absolute arseholes out there.

Also (and this is not aimed at SF) if people want less shit in the water courses, people should maybe stop being obstructive (Jeeeeeeeez I have stories that would make your toes curl. Urban would love them! But I'd get into trouble.) And also maybe we should acknowledge that there's been a record breaking amount of rain. Suddenly everyone's a drainage expert specialising in hydraulic overloads. Except they're not. And you know those times when people say, 'it was spilling out - wet wipes, sanitary towels, the lot! I even saw a nappy...' Yeah, think about what the system is and isn't designed for every now and then and then think about whether it's the sewerage undertaker at fault here or whether it's nobends like your neighbours flushing the very things they've been told not to. The system can't cope with that - that's why you're not supposed to do it. I'm not talking about CSOs here, that's fair enough. They should be strung up for those spills. But that's down to budgeting/shareholder payoffs/etc etc that we've all talked about. Nothing to do with little old me.

Sorry for the rant but my mental health has taken a nosedive recently purely because I get shouted at all. The. Time. Because believe it or not I think we're all entitled to decent water and sewerage services and it's really, really tough out there.

Make them public, make them accountable, make it soon. But don't be arseholes to people who are just trying to do their job.

 

[bluescreen]

Another recommendation for Brett Christophers' book 'Our Lives in their Portfolios; Why Asset Managers Own the World'

It's sitting here on my desk right now, as it has been for months, waiting for me to calm down and pluck up the courage to read it.

 

[brogdale]

It's sitting here on my desk right now, as it has been for months, waiting for me to calm down and pluck up the courage to read it.

Good luck!

 

[Dogsauce]

Yes. Trust me, when you're one of the people actually on the ground trying your absolute best to fix things, and everyone thinks it's fine to give you abuse because it's the water company isn't it, and that's okay, it makes it bloody hard to improve matters. And let me be very clear, there are some absolute arseholes out there.

Also (and this is not aimed at SF) if people want less shit in the water courses, people should maybe stop being obstructive (Jeeeeeeeez I have stories that would make your toes curl. Urban would love them! But I'd get into trouble.) And also maybe we should acknowledge that there's been a record breaking amount of rain. Suddenly everyone's a drainage expert specialising in hydraulic overloads. Except they're not. And you know those times when people say, 'it was spilling out - wet wipes, sanitary towels, the lot! I even saw a nappy...' Yeah, think about what the system is and isn't designed for every now and then and then think about whether it's the sewerage undertaker at fault here or whether it's nobends like your neighbours flushing the very things they've been told not to. The system can't cope with that - that's why you're not supposed to do it. I'm not talking about CSOs here, that's fair enough. They should be strung up for those spills. But that's down to budgeting/shareholder payoffs/etc etc that we've all talked about. Nothing to do with little old me.

Sorry for the rant but my mental health has taken a nosedive recently purely because I get shouted at all. The. Time. Because believe it or not I think we're all entitled to decent water and sewerage services and it's really, really tough out there.

Make them public, make them accountable, make it soon. But don't be arseholes to people who are just trying to do their job.

When I did utility work (some surveying for telecoms infrastructure) our main worry was pensioner types who assumed that merely wearing a hi-vis jacket made you some kind of all-encompassing utilities super hero that could answer any query they threw at you, that you were from the council and could you take a look at their fence etc. We used to see their silhouettes moving closer to the frosted glass of their bungalow doors and hastily try and get the cover back on as quickly as we could to move onto the next location before getting caught in conversational quicksand.

 

[Poot]

When I did utility work (some surveying for telecoms infrastructure) our main worry was pensioner types who assumed that merely wearing a hi-vis jacket made you some kind of all-encompassing utilities super hero that could answer any query they threw at you, that you were from the council and could you take a look at their fence etc. We used to see their silhouettes moving closer to the frosted glass of their bungalow doors and hastily try and get the cover back on as quickly as we could to move onto the next location before getting caught in conversational quicksand.

Yes!! Even when they know why you're there, they'll ask when you're going to do something about the potholes...

 

[two sheds]

And you never fucking do, do you

 

[fucthest8]

So, I have not read the last...ah, fuck it, I've not read any of this thread, but am I right that we are about to bail out another load of shareholders?

So rather than let the company fail as surely capitalism should let it, we're going to nationalise it and let them keep the money they made polluting everything?

Yeah?

 

[Sue]

Ffs.

'Thames Water is attempting to persuade the regulator to let it raise consumer bills by up to 44% over the next five years by increasing investment.'

Thames Water makes bid to lift bills by up to 44%

The troubled water firm pledges to invest more in the environment ahead of a key meeting with Ofwat.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[alex_]

Ffs.

'Thames Water is attempting to persuade the regulator to let it raise consumer bills by up to 44% over the next five years by increasing investment.'

Thames Water makes bid to lift bills by up to 44%

The troubled water firm pledges to invest more in the environment ahead of a key meeting with Ofwat.

www.bbc.co.uk

44% not including inflation.

Alex

 

[two sheds]

This Thames Water?

Thames Water-linked firm paid £14m in dividends despite concerns over group

Kennet Properties sells off Thames Water land, whose owner, Kemble Water, has warned it would not be able to pay a £190m loan

www.theguardian.com

 

[brogdale]

Guardian reporting that the implications of 'too big to fail' are beginning to dawn on the vermin. Amongst the lowlights of this piece:


What a pile of hogshite; if investor confidence relies on being able to drive our natural monopolies into debt-death spirals to enrich parent corporations, they can loose it all they like and fuck right off.

 

[Chz]

Poor state of Thames Water a ‘critical risk’ to UK, Starmer and Reeves told

Exclusive: Whitehall warns firm’s deteriorating infrastructure and £15.6bn debt pose urgent problem

www.theguardian.com

Whitehall tells incoming government "It's fucked". Relevant quote

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were first to be briefed on the issue. They were warned by civil servants that the dire state of Thames’s infrastructure is one of the most urgent problems facing the new government, according to sources.

 

[Bingoman]

Poor state of Thames Water a ‘critical risk’ to UK, Starmer and Reeves told

Exclusive: Whitehall warns firm’s deteriorating infrastructure and £15.6bn debt pose urgent problem

www.theguardian.com

Whitehall tells incoming government "It's fucked". Relevant quote

So does that mean Thames water would have to comeback into,public hands again

 

[TopCat]

I’m more worried that their ability to supply clean water and deal with sewage is going to collapse.

 

[Chilli.s]

will collapse by next spring unless bills go up by 50%

 

[alex_]

will collapse by next spring unless bills go up by 50%

This isn’t quite right, it’s unless it gets approval to raise bills 44% by 2030. I’ve no idea why a labour government would approve this.

Alex

 

[andysays]

will collapse by next spring unless bills go up by 50%

This isn’t quite right, it’s unless it gets approval to raise bills 44% by 2030. I’ve no idea why a labour government would approve this.

Alex

According to this, they are trying to get investors to contribute

Thames Water said it intended to tap investors for fresh funds as it would run out of money by next June without a cash injection. The debt-laden company, which has faced sustained criticism over sewage dumps, leaky pipes and executive pay, said it had £1.8bn, “sufficient to fund our operations for the next 11 months to the end of May 2025”. In financial results for the year to 31 March, Thames said revenues rose 10% to £2.4bn as a result of “inflation linked” increases in the amount it charged for water and wastewater services. Profits jumped 21% driven by higher revenues and “cost discipline”.

 

[two sheds]

"cost discipline" i.e. not repairing leaky pipes and not treating sewage

 

[TopCat]

So much of the infrastructure is Victorian still.