To think the government should nationalise all water companies, starting with this one

[Allisnotlost1]

I’m not personally affected by this (and I know it’s not the only terrible company) but this is making me livid. There were hosepipe bans in the summer. Now this company can’t even ensure its infrastructure can supply water during the winter. Government should just take back into public control, I don’t even care if it’s no cheaper but create the jobs needed to rebuild the infrastructure and stop giving massive payouts to Chief Execs.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cpqye1pz759t

Totally agree with you. It’d be a vote winner for sure. Fergal Sharkey makes a good argument for it.

It simply not possible. Privatisation of the water industry has in essence allowed private companies to asset strip over 40 years.

Sewage works and pumping station are old , creaky and these companies have been given the cash by customers via OFWAT to update an deal with these issue.
However they haven’t in many cases and this is what the Cunliffe review highlighted .

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-water-commission-review-of-the-water-sector

As a UK taxpayer I don’t want to be saddled with billions of pounds worth of debt and future liabilities because they have fiddled the system.

Oh I thought this was going to be Thames Water. What was done there by Macquarie was criminal. They're a complete mess.
If the government can't run our essential services then we at least shouldn't be selling them off to foreign companies and then letting them asset strip them.

Essential infrastructure should never be in foreign hands (in this case 50% Australia, 25% Canada apparently).
I occasionally wonder, if they've made it profitable enough to get dividends (that should have been at least partially reinvested), how was that not possible before it was sold off. Lots of clever business types on Mumsnet must have the answers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-67648335 (from 2023)

It’s perfectly possible, it’s just a question of mechanism. Cunliffe didn’t consider this option as he wasn’t asked to. But we are essentially with billions of pounds of debt. Cunliffe himself said bills will have to rise by 30% to cover the needed investment. Would you rather pay that to CEO salaries and bonuses or to the government?

Cymru Dŵr (Welsh Water) is not for profit and has been since 2001 - it totally can be done.

Exactly as you described - by not reinvesting, raising bills and then handing out dividends, which made the business look successful and increased the share price. But ultimately resulted in the rotted infrastructure that means they know let shit flow into the seas and rivers and fail to supply us with water when things go wrong.

Thatcher and her supporters seem to have a very long arm.

Not only have they caused the water company idiocy. chief executive s are getting very large bonuses, while putting literal shit into our waterways. and Train company's in tuurmoil

Meanwhile, when Russia invaded Ukraine, our electricity bills went up by 100s. But I n france, their bills went up by about 2%. Because the French government owned 51% of EDF. So could control their energy suplier. ED
F passed the cost onto us. We'd sold the lot, so we had no Say on what they did.
Then we have the housing issue. Social housing is few and far between,because in the 80s the main provide r,the Local Authority, was made to sell their social housing at less than market value, so couldn't replace like for like.

we got what we voted for. And those of us who are old enough and remember, would love to say "I told you so". But sadly, we have to live in the state that others voted for.

And that’s a total shit show- it’s nominally a “not for profit” but has some complex system to do with bonds.
They too have underinvested and it’s now shedding 500 jobs whilst also putting up bills 30%.
it’s also been downgraded to 2 stars = not performing

Of you look up when they last interviewed Steve Wilson he openly admitted that they aren’t running their works properly

Their water is expensive too - considering how much it rains in Wales!
My widowed mother living alone in her small bungalow was paying a lot more for her water than my family of 4 were to Severn Trent.

Has she tried a meter? We are on one 3 of £60 / month

Totally agree.

When I first moved to the UK, many years ago, I could not believe what I was hearing. WATER companies were privatised? You're joking, surely, I thought. Absolute madness.

And the infrastructure has got so, so much worse since. It's enraging.

I haven’t read the news, but of course water should be nationalized. We all NEED water, it’s not optional and it belongs to all of us. We have a responsibility towards our environment not to pump shit into the sea. It’s a state issue 100% and private companies shouldn’t be involved.

Totally agree!

On one hand, I agree. Customers can’t change supplier like they can for landlines, broadband, electricity and gas so there is no incentive for water companies to be any good - they have customers even if they’re shockingly bad (Thames Water), have terrible customer service (Thames Water), hike bills unreasonably (Thames Water), dump sewage in rivers (Thames Water) and allow private equity to burden them with debt from here to Christmas (Thames Water).

On the other hand I’d not trust this government to run a bath, even if the water companies could reliably supply some water to actually go in it.

If we're entertaining an exercise in investing in and restructuring infrastructure/future-proofing new-builds..
I'd like to see more domestic grey-water recycling schemes.
https://www.ukwra.org.uk/greywater-recycling
Also, more use of reed bed filtration between sewerage and watercourse.
https://tricel.co.uk/sewage-treatment/how-does-a-reed-bed-work/ .
www.waterandwastewater.com/reed-beds-in-wastewater-treatment-sustainable-purification-methods/

We can all dream eh?

Totally agree. But it should be a stages transition during which the companies should be made to make improvements and for which chief executives should be held personally liable for if failing to do so. For years they’ve been allowed to present long-term strategies with zero consequences if they didn’t deliver on them without good reason (and wanting to maximise dividends to shareholders is not a good enough reason). Something as essential as water should never be run on a for profit basis that benefits shareholders.

You do know it’s not solely on how much is rains…

I pay £27 a month for a two bed flat. Maybe she needs a review?

@GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin
It’s not the fault of this government though - this is Thatcherism and the austerity government (where did all that money go to?). They have really scorched the earth.
I cannot think of any privatised concern that has not been made worse by privatisation. It’s asset stripping by the rich.