Thames Water's head office is not too far from me. Come the summer when they've shunted another sewage discharge into the Thames, also near me, I shall be emptying a sample bucket of it into their reception area.
Thames Water's head office is not too far from me. Come the summer when they've shunted another sewage discharge into the Thames, also near me, I shall be emptying a sample bucket of it into their reception area.
My meter is on the pavement outside under a lid which you can open with a crow bar/screwdriver. If my water company needed to dig up my drive, I would get it in writing from them beforehand, that the drive will be put back in the same condition as before the work started and on the same day. No way would I take the word of some rep, as you will have zero come back when they don't do it.
And don't forget to take a set of dated photos to show the existing condition, before work starts.
Me and four neighbours approached TW a couple of years ago as a group to find out how much it would cost to have our houses connected directly to the water main rather than all running through a shared pipe that dates back to about 1900 and has a convoluted route. The water main is about 12 feet from the front of our houses, after which we are responsible for the internal pipework. In my case the internal cost was quoted by my plumber at about £300. Thames Water's price for all five of us was in excess of £20k. When asked how this was made up, it turned out the total cost of closing the road, payable to the council, was about £2500. They intended to charge this to each house even though the road would only need closing once. They would therefore just pocket £10k in closure fees they wouldn't pay over. We didn't proceed. Greedy wankers. Let them go bust.
I always thought Sarah Bentley was quite impressive. I heard her interviewed on several occasions and thought she had a plan to sort the mess out. However, things it seems, have got even worse under her tenure - looks like she was about to take plenty of flak.
I note she joined Thames Water from BT which is funny as my old boss at BT (Liv Garfield) is currently running Severn Trent water company. She received £3.9 million pounds in pay last year. She apparently has also been advising the government on sustainability - this whilst (simultaneously) her company paid out multi million pound fines for leaking sewage into rivers - you couldn't make it up!
Political maybe, but imo Thatcher's privatisation of water has led to this shambles.
I always thought Sarah Bentley was quite impressive. I heard her interviewed on several occasions and thought she had a plan to sort the mess out. However, things it seems, have got even worse under her tenure - looks like she was about to take plenty of flak.
I note she joined Thames Water from BT which is funny as my old boss at BT (Liv Garfield) is currently running Severn Trent water company. She received £3.9 million pounds in pay last year. She apparently has also been advising the government on sustainability - this whilst (simultaneously) her company paid out multi million pound fines for leaking sewage into rivers - you couldn't make it up!
Political maybe, but imo Thatcher's privatisation of water has led to this shambles.
She's excellent at marketing herself. That's about it.
Forgot to mention that the Times are today running a headline about water companies wanting to hike prices by 40% next year - I guess someone has to pay for the dividends.
Thames is in a perfect storm. It got loaded up with debt and the Great Vampire Kangaroo ran off with all the loot.
Then last year the energy prices hit them hard - they use a LOT of power to treat the sewage and pump the water, plus all their treatment feed stock is ultimately oil-price derived. They can't fix the leaks fast enough as their area is so densely populated and there literally aren't enough people to dig the roads - they weren't able to spend the capital. They're not (normally) allowed to raise prices between Ofwat settlements.
Then the capital ran out paying for energy and feed stock. Then they cancelled a new reservoir. The current investors put 500 million in last year and are on the hook for another billion but it's a drop in the reservoir. The investors will be expected to put in even more, or they'll lose the lot.
The chairman will go this week but he made sure Bentley was out the door first.
front page of the Times today (just read the gist while shopping, didn't buy the paper) .. water bills to go up by 40% .. w t f .. this presumably is to pay for infrastructure to stop the polluting of waterways because the present (usually very old) systems can't cope .. I know that the nationalised industries pre Thatcher had their faults. BUT this is taking the piss and there is little the 'customer' can do about it .. is water resource re-nationalisation in Labour's manifesto should it win the next election ? IF not Sir Keir, make it a near priority
Read somewhere that the 40% is scare mongering tactic as they are about to be reassessed by Ofwat against their 5 year plans. Last review was 2019. PR24 next year. Fat lot of use.
You think the gov could do a better job, they can’t even regulate it effectively, let alone run it.
End of the day, the customer will need to fund future investment, whether that’s through higher water bills, or higher general taxation (if nationalised), the customer will pay.
And on the dividend point, yes historical shareholders have rinsed it, but nowadays look beyond the speculative absolute numbers to the dividend yield….and with more restrictions coming in PR24 you’ll be lucky to attract future shareholders.
Not sure where 40% price increases are coming from?? Water companies can only increase tariffs in line with inflation and to recover any shortfalls in prior years due to low demand (when demand drives higher revenue it works the opposite way and prices are reduced accordingly 2 years later, not literally, but there would be a reduction that partly offsets the underlying increases).
In my area SEW prices are up about 13%. Now your actual DD may go up by more than that of course if your payment plan has been too low previously, but underlying increases are about 13% I believe.
Imagine not being able to run a sustainable business when you have a monopoly on selling water.
Imagine running a business where you can’t put your prices up beyond inflation.for 5 years, you can’t keep any extra revenue generated by higher demand, but you have to absorb power costs that have doubled in two years, chemical costs that have gone up 80/90% in some instances driven by power prices and availability, millions on Covid impacts, millions of pounds on customer compensation and associated incident costs due to extreme weather events impacting a network that was underfunded for decades (including when it was nationalised) and compounded by a customer base that has dramatically changed since Covid, and debt servicing costs that are escalating…..but you’re now expected to sort it all out and run a sustainable business.
It’s not all black and white.
When you have one on the verge of collapsing and several others struggling, it points to historical underfunding and inept regulation, rather than just mismanagement.
Comments
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-64941114
I am the puppetmaster!
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-12239301/Thames-Water-boss-Sarah-Bentley-quits-giving-bonus.html
Apparently he/she blames the loss of supplies to several villages in our area recently to " working from home & drinking too much water " !!
Of COURSE it's the consumers' fault !
The water main is about 12 feet from the front of our houses, after which we are responsible for the internal pipework. In my case the internal cost was quoted by my plumber at about £300.
Thames Water's price for all five of us was in excess of £20k. When asked how this was made up, it turned out the total cost of closing the road, payable to the council, was about £2500. They intended to charge this to each house even though the road would only need closing once. They would therefore just pocket £10k in closure fees they wouldn't pay over. We didn't proceed.
Greedy wankers. Let them go bust.
I note she joined Thames Water from BT which is funny as my old boss at BT (Liv Garfield) is currently running Severn Trent water company. She received £3.9 million pounds in pay last year. She apparently has also been advising the government on sustainability - this whilst (simultaneously) her company paid out multi million pound fines for leaking sewage into rivers - you couldn't make it up!
Political maybe, but imo Thatcher's privatisation of water has led to this shambles.
Then last year the energy prices hit them hard - they use a LOT of power to treat the sewage and pump the water, plus all their treatment feed stock is ultimately oil-price derived. They can't fix the leaks fast enough as their area is so densely populated and there literally aren't enough people to dig the roads - they weren't able to spend the capital. They're not (normally) allowed to raise prices between Ofwat settlements.
Then the capital ran out paying for energy and feed stock. Then they cancelled a new reservoir. The current investors put 500 million in last year and are on the hook for another billion but it's a drop in the reservoir. The investors will be expected to put in even more, or they'll lose the lot.
The chairman will go this week but he made sure Bentley was out the door first.
In short, they are f*cked.
They can cut my water supply off
Nationalise water and start again. Privatisation is a joke.
End of the day, the customer will need to fund future investment, whether that’s through higher water bills, or higher general taxation (if nationalised), the customer will pay.
And on the dividend point, yes historical shareholders have rinsed it, but nowadays look beyond the speculative absolute numbers to the dividend yield….and with more restrictions coming in PR24 you’ll be lucky to attract future shareholders.
Not sure where 40% price increases are coming from?? Water companies can only increase tariffs in line with inflation and to recover any shortfalls in prior years due to low demand (when demand drives higher revenue it works the opposite way and prices are reduced accordingly 2 years later, not literally, but there would be a reduction that partly offsets the underlying increases).
In my area SEW prices are up about 13%. Now your actual DD may go up by more than that of course if your payment plan has been too low previously, but underlying increases are about 13% I believe.
When you have one on the verge of collapsing and several others struggling, it points to historical underfunding and inept regulation, rather than just mismanagement.