Thames Water to get green light to hike bills by more than a third by 2030

    https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/18/thames-water-green-light-hike-bills-one-third-by-2030-ofwat?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

    Posted by AdaptableBeef

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    42 Comments

    1. Maybe they should stop paying out dividends when they’re in such dire straits, also maybe if they stopped being so shit at their job they would keep getting fined

    2. Anonymous-Josh on

      Labour are a bunch of pussies, they won’t do anything bold and just hope the economy magically fixes by these small improvements

    3. TEZofAllTrades on

      What!? I thought the regulator actually stepped in for once? Or was that just about bonuses? There are too many crazy issues with Thames Water to keep up with!

    4. I personally think we should just let these companies go under & buy them out when they go bust, so as to nationalise our water

    5. Substantial_Steak723 on

      If we buy it for a quid, then at least price hikes repair the shit these arseholes made, without nationalisation more shit and decay.

      Good luck paying for that Londoners!

    6. Regulator fines them for granting dividends for less than the amount paid to shareholders. Just costs them (read: us) twice as much to do it! What a perfect system, not terrible at all.

      Nationalise or figure out a system to not make water a monopoly. The current system makes no sense at all. They can act with complete impunity, and it’s the citizenry that pays.

    7. Thebritishdovah on

      Oh fuck off. They’ll just give it to their shareholders, need bailing out again and claim, they can’t fix anything.

      Or fuck it. Turn us into the city of Rapture, charge us for the very air we breath.

    8. Driving the population closer to poverty by the transference of funds to shareholders in water supply companies is some dystopian shit.

    9. Whole things bent from top to bottom. Even the backhanders are getting backhanders, it’s so fucking blatant

    10. Choice-Bus-1177 on

      I pay tax, council tax and a service charge for the flat I bought. How do none of these things cover the water I need to live? I already have to pay for inhalers so I can breathe. Life is literally pay to live.

    11. ExoticReplacement163 on

      Honestly put it to the people, one-off payment to renationalise all water companies and stop this nonsense forever. Kickstart it even, I’d pay not to have to have this national shame continue.

    12. Objective_Brief6050 on

      I remember seeing a short video about how the aqueducts were built and it took 70 odd years. The men who designed them, many who built them were dead long before they were finished. They didn’t get any benefit yet they started something and followed it through because it would benefit the county and their descendants.

      When did we go so far off course, when did we stop caring about our grandchildrens futures, imagine the world we could build them if we didn’t have to waste so much time contributing to millionaires ‘passive’ income

    13. Scary bit surely is this is just now a big green flag for other water companies to pull the same antics to the same level, rather than at least pretending to be better than TW.

    14. This just makes me sick. These water companies have been blatantly raping the taxpayer for years. I’m no financial expert but this just feels like what banks did in 2007 and Carillion a few years ago. Total irresponsibility and a big fuck you to the country.

      I can’t believe the CEO’s aren’t held criminally responsible for this level of sheer incompetence and blatant profiteering. Also it baffles me why monopoly rules apply to all other utility companies but not these set of snouts.

    15. BetaRayPhil616 on

      Absolutely gold mine for those running it. It’s not like we can switch to another water company.

    16. Appropriate-Dig-7080 on

      People demanding water companies achieve the unachievable and then realising it costs money to do that. Cue surprised Pikachu faces.

    17. red-spider-mkv on

      I don’t get it… just nationalise the fucking thing after the company fails. Yeah creditors and shareholders lose out but when the flaming heck was it the government’s responsibility to make sure shareholders of shitty companies are always protected? That’s the risk you take when you buy shares. I really don’t get this idiocy…

    18. cornishpirate32 on

      Shouldn’t be paying out dividends because they’re insolvent, hell, they shouldn’t be trading full stop with the amount of debt they have.

    19. The french would just cancel direct debits en masse. There’s a lot to be said clearly demonstrative action in the face of what’s tantamount to gross negligence and theft.

    20. Secret_Association58 on

      Great higher prices and poisoned polluted water leaking everywhere due to burst pipes.

      Who could complain with such great service

    21. Privatise the profits, socialise the losses in full swing.

      The government needs to step in and overturn Ofwats decision here – and have a look at the swinging door between the water companies and the regulator to boot, because it’s clear that Ofwat isn’t fit for purpose.

    22. supersonic-bionic on

      Still shocked at how this is ok and no krone js protesting

      The consumers are not protected at all and have to pay the unreasonable hikes

    23. AgitatedSilver9585 on

      And what is the great British public going to do? Say “thank you sir, please take my money”.

    24. You can understand why people are begining to think peaceful change is impossible, when you see such blatant naked money grabbing being upheld by a supposed neutral ombudsman.

    25. Technical-Mind-3266 on

      It wouldn’t cost the government/tax payer a single penny to buy out Thames water, or any private utility. The shareholders would be paid in bonds over 30 years and the investors would just have to take a hit.

      The reason why the government doesn’t buy out the private utility sector is because it has no idea how to run it.

    26. FilthyHore1000 on

      Why are their Execs getting large bonuses for utterly effing everything up? Customers shouldn’t have to bail these silly cants out. We should all be refusing to pay unfair prices at this point. Pure Corruption.