Thames Waterthe largest private water supply and treatment company in the United Kingdomit’s found at the edge of collapse with an accumulated debt of about 16,000 million euros. The British Government is working on a contingency plan to “rescue” the company, including the possibility of a “special administration regime” that would temporarily mean its public ownership.
The resignation as executive director of Sarah Bentley, who last year received a “bonus” of half a million euros has exposed the management of the company that supplies water to 15 million Brits, almost a quarter of the country’s population.
Thames Water guarantees the supply of 2,600 million liters of water per day and the treatment of 4,700 million liters of wastewater. The company has also been in the eye of the hurricane due to the scandal of direct discharges into rivers and coasts, as a result of an investigation and a campaign promoted by the newspaper The Times.
The property of the company, which until 2016 was in the hands of the banco australianao Macquarie, they share it between the pension manager BT, the Canadian investment fund British Columbia Investment Management Corporation and the China Investment Corporation. The company committed last summer to contribute 560 million euros from shareholders and to double that figure throughout this year to clean up their finances. But the critical situation may ultimately force a “rescue” similar to intervention in banks in the midst of a financial debacle, with the partial acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds y Northern Rock.
The borderline situation of Thames Water can drag other private companies that have already been baptized as “the water crisis”. The British will have to face increases of up to 40% on the water bill, according to the plans presented by the companies to the Ofwat, the water regulatory company. Investments in wastewater treatment and adaptation to climate change are the two factors alleged to justify the rate increase.