Shock, Horror! Privatised Water Company May Run Dry.

Thames Water is England's largest privatised water company. It's now claiming to the regulator that, without an almost 60% bill increase for its users, it's 'neither financeable nor investible'. What they really mean, of course, it that they want the users to pay for all Thames Water's mandatory infrastructural improvements (https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/28/thames-water-says-without-steep-bill-increase-its-neither-financeable-nor-investible). Privatisation of state-owned services was claimed to improve efficiencies. Privatising water was, however, always a big mistake. It essentially created monopolies for the provision of clean drinking water and safe treatment of sewage. Things that people cannot decide not to 'buy'. The only increased efficiencies shown by England's privatised water companies, seems to be in converting their profits into rewards for shareholders and CEOs. Even worse, profits appear to have been maximised, in some cases, by illegally pumping out sewage into rivers and coastal waters. These 'profits' included money that could and should have been spent on infrastructural improvements. The improvements should have been made decades ago. It would be another mistake to bail Thames Water out. It's by no means certain they've suddenly become solid, reliable providers of essential services. Some things have to be nationalised.