UK's biggest water company seeks court approval for emergency funding to prevent nationalization

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Without the funding, Thames Water will run out of money in March, which could force the government to temporarily nationalize the company. Both the government and Thames Water say water will continue flowing to customers regardless of what happens.

Thames Water, which has about 17 billion pounds ($20.9 billion) of debt and has been repeatedly cited for illegal sewage spills, is at the center of a nationwide backlash over rising water bills as Britain seeks to modernize its water and sewage systems to cope with climate change and a growing population.

The company has been the focus of criticism from consumers and politicians who say Thames Water created its own problems by paying overly generous dividends to investors and high salaries to executives while failing to invest in pipelines, pumps and reservoirs. Company executives say the fault lies with regulators who kept bills too low for too long, starving the company of the cash it needed to fund improvements.

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Stop fucking around with private companies providing things like water. Nationalize and be done with the issue.

Fuck sakes corporations just got to fuck everything for a profit.

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That's the legacy of Thatcher and Reagan's privatization movement.

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So much cancer can linked back to those useless twats. I wonder regularly what the world would be like if they never got into politics.

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Should have always been government.

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"cOmpAniEs aRe rUN efFicIEntLy, UnLikE thE goVT"

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Yup. Those two fucked the world far more than even Hitler did.

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No, Hitler killed like 100M people.

Also Thatcher and Reagan were just tools of the oligarchy. The individuals and corporations who financed them are to blame. Some of them were around to cause Brexit.

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Private industry

that everyone needs to live
that can’t profit without subsidies
that has no competitors in its market
that has growth potential defined strictly by external factors

It’s insane that this isn’t nationalized immediately. Privatizing it in the first place is the work of people who are corrupt as hell, inhumanly evil, dumb as rocks, or, most likely, all of the above.

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I think other than Chile the UK is the only country in the world that has privatised the water supply to its population allowing large private profits to be drawn off what is recognised as a basic human right. Even most of the USA has not allowed corporations to be parasitic on its people to that level, and it is a Labour government bought and paid for by business that is trying to avoid re-nationalisation and that allows the water regulation body to be comprised of ex-water executives.

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Just because Reagan and Thatcher were "only" the mouthpieces in no way, shape or form removes their complicity.

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Is this the same company that did the shell game of parent companies buying it's own stock to inflate the value? There was an article awhile back ....

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Privatizing it in the first place is the work of people who are corrupt as hell, inhumanly evil, dumb as rocks, or, most likely, all of the above.

In this case currupt and evil. Thatcher had tried it twice before and been forced to back down because it was (and still is) an incredibly unpopular policy and was at risk of losing them the 1987 election. Immediately after the election they privatized the lot before anyone could complain.

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The oligarchy will give you all $100,000 to change your opinions.

Because. Y'know. That's how it works.

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Without the funding, Thames Water will run out of money in March, which could force the government to temporarily nationalize the company.

Oh no! Won't someone please think of the investors?

Company executives say the fault lies with regulators who kept bills too low for too long, starving the company of the cash it needed to fund improvements.

If you haven't got money for improvements, stop diverting the money you did have into your own pockets. 17 billion in debt?! Fuck you.

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Can you explain how this is a Labour issue?
The privatization happened under Tories (Thatcher), the whole setup of that scheme has had plenty of time under Tory for years and years of rule where they made sure all that you complain about actually happened.

Labour has been in power for what, 6 months now? And all this is because of ... Labour?

Seriously, educate me on how this is the fault of Labour and why you fail to mention it all was started and matured under Tory rule.

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Eh someone else would've taken their place. This is on our governments and our people for allowing monied influence in politics and not keeping them in check.

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I did not say the issue was Labour generated I said they are avoiding re-nationalisation, they could nationalise it tonight, do you think they will?

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and it is a Labour government bought and paid for by business that is trying to avoid re-nationalisation and that allows the water regulation body to be comprised of ex-water executives

This statement makes it about Labour and how they are bought and staff the board to game the whole show.
Sure, Labour has it's issues but how and why on earth did you mention Labour in your post and yet fail to mention the true villains of this story, the Tories?

This reeks of modern political discourse; blame left/labour/liberal/woke but conveniently forget to mention it is actually the mostly the right who keeps introducing legislation and laws to undermine the average citizen.

This is an issue created and matured under the rule of conservatives/Tories. Asking if the other side, i.e. Labour, will 'fix' the crap created by Tories is difficult to answer, who knows what the conservatives did at the time? They might have had provisions in the deal that make it much harder to re-nationalize then you or I think. My point is, you are asking the builders if they can re-build the house which was demolished, burned to a cinder and then salted the earth. Yeah, there's always a possibility to fix things but you est believe the mess created is much, much bigger and problematic than you initially think. And while asking you insinuate the current builder is actually (partially) to blame. My guess is that it will take no effort or time for people to actually believe this crap and fully blame Labour for this fiasco.

And if you doubt me or find my statements a bit 'over the rop', remember there are millions of people who believe Obama should have stopped 911 and Katrina. Yep, that is the US but the principle stands: people are morons.

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You are far more interested in assigning blame than fixing the issue, you have the inertia of someone that needs constant praise, good boy. Who's a good boy.

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UK's biggest water company seeks court approval for emergency funding to prevent nationalization