16th November 2006

Thames Water has just been sold to a consortium for £8bn. Severn Trent is also now seen as a target (i). Should we worry?

Ownership matters profoundly. The water supply of 11 million people should not be auctioned to the highest bidder, in which the  long-term intentions of the buyer are allegedly of no concern to anyone. What will be the new company's attitudes to the investment needed to tackle leakages, conserve water and stop raw sewage being dumped in our rivers?

We don't know - but what we do know is, that once again, the demands of shareholders will come before the needs of customers and the environment. The Australian Bank that led the consortium has been described as "unashamedly and aggressively oriented to making as much as it can as fast as it can". Thames Water users can expect the most rapid increase in prices in Britain, for loopholes in the regulatory regime to be exploited and for "surplus" assets to be sold, not to finance improvements, but to further the interests of shareholders.

Conservative and Labour Governments have got it badly wrong. What we need now is to bring Thames Water and other water companies back into public ownership, properly accountable to the electorate.

Cllr. Philip Booth, Stroud District Green Party.

Note:

(i) See:
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1924218,00.html