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...In a letter to the utilities’ chairs seen by the Financial Times, Ofwat boss Iain Coucher said the number of serious pollution incidents was “still too high” and “the pace of reduction not fast enough”....
...Two of Britain’s biggest water companies have failed to map large parts of their sewage networks, underscoring the challenge facing privatised utilities as they try to fix their poor environmental record...
...Dŵr Cymru, South East Water, SES Water, United Utilities, Affinity Water, Anglian Water, Bristol Water, Portsmouth Water, Severn Trent, South Staffordshire, Sutton & East Surrey Water and Wessex Water did...
...Rishi Sunak has dispatched his business adviser to grapple with the crisis facing Thames Water, in a sign of jitters inside government about the potential collapse of Britain’s largest water utility....
...Margaret Thatcher privatised the water sector in the 1980s and the forced renationalisation of Thames Water would confirm in the minds of voters that it had been a costly failure....
...SE Water said: “In common with many utility companies, South East Water’s cost of financing increased year to year predominately due to the inflationary environment....
...The scheme is being trialled in Cambridgeshire, where water shortages are holding up government plans to expand the city as a life sciences hub....
...holding back the city after a decade of strong economic growth....
...A period of temporary public stewardship is generally framed as a worst-case scenario in discussions about the future of Britain’s biggest privatised water utility....
...If they withdraw, Thames Water could be forced to enter the government’s special administration regime, a form of temporary renationalisation....
...US hedge fund Elliott Management has been buying the bonds of troubled British utility company Thames Water, in a bet that markets have grown too pessimistic over the size of losses that investors may have...
...If nothing else, it’d be a welcome example of a utility owner cleaning up its own mess....
...Macquarie, the former owner of Thames Water criticised for loading the utility with debt, is a lender to its stricken parent company....
...Leverage is high at about 80 per cent in the utility, the debt held in the subsidiary company Thames Water Utilities Finance, within the regulatory ringfence....
...While the net debt of more than £15.6bn within Thames Water’s so-called regulatory ringfence is supposed to be firewalled from the troubles of its parent company Kemble, bonds at the utility are now trading...
...If nothing else, Thames Water’s chair Sir Adrian Montague can be commended for courage. The City veteran agreed to oversee Britain’s biggest privatised water utility last July....
...Sadly, all the British water utilities fall well short of good practices, let alone best practices. They could learn a lot from cities such as Phnom Penh.”...
...Thames Water had £2.4bn of liquidity at the end of February; it can meet its commitments until at least May 2025. Regardless, the utility needs more equity....
...Water assets are considered the most risky of the regulated utilities but nearly two-thirds of investors also said they believed that the sector’s poor performance could affect investor appetite for other...
...Montague, an experienced City troubleshooter who previously chaired British Energy and was deputy chair of Network Rail, was parachuted in as chair of Thames Water and its parent, Kemble Water, in June last...
...Troubled UK utility Thames Water has pushed up the amount it plans to spend on its network in its latest business plan by £1.1bn to £19.8bn....
...and mistrust of England’s privatised water system....
...Further reading:— Seven common misconceptions about the Thames Water crisis (FTAV)— Fix your UK water utility with this one simple trick (FTAV)— Let Thames Water die to teach everyone a lesson, says Citi...
...s largest water utility....
...Cracks in the financial plumbing of Thames Water’s complex corporate structure are making debt investors nervous about a supposedly safe financial model widely used across Britain’s privatised utilities...
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