One fifth of all water supplies lost to leaks. Over 800 sewage spills on average every day in 2022. The cost to fix the water industry is expected to run to hundreds of billions and is almost certain to fall on households.
“Ofwat will continue to keep companies’ financial resilience under close scrutiny,” said a spokesperson for the regulator.
The prospect of a government bailout or possible nationalization at taxpayers expense is provoking anger among consumers. We Own It, an activist group that campaigns against privatization, has started a petition calling for Thames Water to be taken permanently into public ownership. Putting Thames Water into a special administration could mean a 25% haircut for some bondholders, according to Bloomberg Intelligence. That would be a blow to investors, but prioritizing paying back the debt would increase the cost of any bailout and risk provoking anger among voters.
Even before the debt problems of the water sector were laid bare this week, companies were already under scrutiny for allowing sewage to discharge into rivers and waterways during storms. Anglian Water Group Ltd. scrapped a dividend for most of its investors after the company was fined £2.65 million in April for allowing raw sewage to flow into the sea.
“Without action, the risk of not having enough water to satisfy our customers’ demand is very real,” Water UK, the industry trade body, said in a report modeling the sector to 2050.
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