Greedy water companies have us over a barrel and don’t they know it

Sewage continues to be pumped into British waterways (Picture: Getty)

The water companies have sent in their ransom notes to Ofwat demanding the right to put up our bills.

We will now have to wait until July 11 – after the election – to hear the regulator’s verdict.

By then we may have a new government, a new parliament, and a new prime minister – and we simply can’t afford to have the same old broken water system. 

From our waters overflowing with sewage and agricultural waste, to regular service outages, the sector’s abject failure could not be more blindingly obvious. 

Last year, water companies discharged raw sewage into our waters for a record 3.6million hours – 105% worse than the year before. 

This is not only an environmental disaster of epic, and growing, proportions, it’s also a serious public health emergency – as the thousands of households in Devon currently battling an outbreak from contaminated water can attest. 

Now, we read that Ofwat is considering allowing firms to avoid the high fines they deserve in order to help ‘struggling’ firms. 

And these are the same companies that say if we want them to do anything to improve this dire state of affairs, then it’s ordinary bill payers who are going to have to stump up the cash.

And the price hikes they are demanding are jaw dropping in their sheer audacity.

According to figures from the consumer watchdog, even the smallest demand is for an eye-watering increase of 24%. 

But it is the companies with the most shockingly poor performance of all that want to put up their customers’ bills most of all.

Thames Water, which is already teetering on the brink of insolvency after paying out £7billion in dividends over the last three decades, now want their customers to pick up the tab by putting bills up by an average of £749 a year – up 59%.

Top of the charts, or rather bottom, is Southern Water, who want to put bills up an obscene 91%.

These companies have us over a barrel – and don’t they just know it.

They’re fully aware that the toothless regulator has no power to hold them to account – and now apparently plans to let them off fines.

Our rivers and seas are an environmental crisis (Picture: Getty)

And they know that their customers have zero choice about their water supplier – it’s not like they can vote with their wallet, shop around, and go elsewhere.

That’s why, despite their shockingly poor performance, these companies think they can get away with continuing to turn the screws and milking the public cash cow dry.

In an election year, we can’t let them. 

Because how dare these companies ask the very people they’ve let down so badly, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, to pick up the tab for their negligence and financial mismanagement?

These greedy companies have racked up debts of over £64bn since they were privatised debt-free under Thatcher, deliberately using the revenue from customer bills to pay out £78bn in shareholder dividends, rather than investing enough in infrastructure.

Now they are taking us all for fools and demanding yet more money to line their shareholders’ pockets? It’s an outrage that cannot be allowed to continue.

That’s why, before the election was called, I joined a group of nearly 40 MPs to write to Ofwat boss, David Black, demanding they rule out any above-inflation increase to customers’ bills until performance is improved.

Nor should they be allowed to pay out any more dividends until shareholders put new equity into financing infrastructure improvements.

But ultimately, we have to recognise just how much of a monumental failure the whole concept of privatising our water has proven.

An incoming administration, no matter what party, should place every company in Special Administration as we move to end this legalised scam and, as a first step, bring our water back into public ownership.

The writing is already on the wall for water companies (Picture: Getty Images)

First, because only if it’s under democratic control, can we make sure that this public good is run for the benefit of people and the planet, not shareholder profits.

Second, because this is even more important as we enter an era of more extreme weather of droughts and floods. A resilient water system is an issue of national security.

And third, because if the public are being asked to pay for water infrastructure upgrades ourselves, we should at least own the assets, rather than yet again allowing shareholders to just take all the profits.

The writing is already on the wall for our failing water companies. The public have had enough of this disastrous Thatcherite experiment. A 2022 survey showed that 58% of Conservative voters and 80% of Labour supporters now want to see water back in public hands. 

Yet so far, the Green Party is the only party committed to public ownership. Despite recognising the need to renationalise the railways, Labour have yet to make the same promise for our water, although there are plenty of MPs crying out for Starmer to do so.

Because if he does become the country’s next Prime Minister, tinkering around the edges isn’t going to be enough.

This crisis isn’t going anywhere – and Labour need to wake up, step in and finally bring the fiasco of water privatisation to an end.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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