Time to admit that privatisation of national utilities isn’t working?

Thames water is owned by foreign companies who make a profit off the consumers. It’s a disgrace. It’s not as if we can take our custom elsewhere. Sold off for greed. how can they pay out vast dividends when they have racked up huge debts? They were sold off without debts.

Germanshepherdsmum

Nationalisation without compensation to shareholders would be theft if the shares have a value,

Was it theft when a nationalised industries were sold off into private hands?

I heard on the way home from work, that neither Labour nor LibDem want to nationalise Thames water.

GSM, you make the point that nationalisation without compensation to shareholders would be theft if the shares have a value. Would that still hold good in the face of proven neglect of the company's obligations??
Even in Australia the shareholders presumably have some sort of corporate responsibility for understanding the company's affairs.

Welsh Water is a not-for-profit company but really, some of the disasters are as bad as those of other water companies.
Pollution of the rivers here is really shocking.

Germanshepherdsmum

Nationalisation without compensation to shareholders would be theft if the shares have a value,

Yes, the shares need to be purchased but are they worth much anyway?

Water should never have been privatised.

I agree with you to much of this has been an unmitigated disaster varian. However, I would not like the next government to swing to the other extreme of wholesale state ownership. Communities need to be much more involved.

Privitisation has been an unmitigated disaster.

Selling off council houses at a knockdown price while forbidding councils to build new homes with the process may have bought a few votes for Margaret Thatcher but has caused a dire housing shortage.

Privitisation of the railways by separating the railway lines from the trains and breaking up any co-ordinated timetabling has meant that we now have the most expensive and least reliable railway service in Europe.

The privitised energy companies pay out dividends whilst imposing huge price hikes on consumers.

Privitised water companies have used the umpteen billions they have borrowed to pay shareholders and give huge bonuses to directors instead of investing in clean water and modern sewage treatment plants, hence we see sewage polluting our rivers and beaches

Privitised prisons and probation services have caused chaos in the penal system seeing more and more repeat offenders.

Of course, the chances of any Tory politician admitting that privitisation has damaged our country are about as high as the chances of them admitting that brexit was a very serious mistake.

If only we lived in a democracy, where a government could only be elected by the majority of voters, neither of these disasters might never have happened.

Here are some shocking figures from another Guardian article.
Quote below:

Cat Hobbs, the founder of the public ownership campaign group We Own It, added: “England has chosen to hand over its essential water infrastructure wholesale to privatised monopolies, owned by a handful of shareholders around the world. They have extracted £72bn in dividends while letting pipes leak and pouring sewage into our rivers and seas. And they have collectively built up a debt mountain of £53bn, although they started out in 1989 with zero debt.

www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/28/thames-water-customers-financial-inquiry-river-safety-concerns-pollution-shortages-government-regulator-bailout

Grantanow

Water is a monopoly and should be nationalised without compensation given the massive profits given to shareholders at the expense of racking up enormous debts (which the taxpayer will have to cover) and dumping sewage (which they are now claiming should be paid for by the customers through increased charges). Absolute disgrace and Labour should deal with this after the next GE if the Tories don't.

The Labour Party are not talking about re-nationalisation, I noticed. They're talking about mutuality which seems to mean different areas choosing the best way for themselves.

I would really like to see more detail of this as I'm not in favor of nationalistion or this foolish privatisation of a natural monopoly. I do like what I think Starmer is saying, which seems to be, that you start from the bottom and work upwards to Parliament rather than working from parliament and make it into a top down system. Local Communities then have control over their own water but can also feed it into the rest of the country.

Nationalisation without compensation to shareholders would be theft if the shares have a value,

Water is a monopoly and should be nationalised without compensation given the massive profits given to shareholders at the expense of racking up enormous debts (which the taxpayer will have to cover) and dumping sewage (which they are now claiming should be paid for by the customers through increased charges). Absolute disgrace and Labour should deal with this after the next GE if the Tories don't.

And it isn't just TW's Australian shareholders who are pocketing cash, I read yesterday that the chief exec has resigned, and waived her annual bonus. Which was about £400k. Goodness knows what her salary was.

What on earth has Ofwat been up to? Or not been up to. Turning a blind eye to Offrip that's what. It's time the utility regulators were given a broader remit and more teeth with which to gnaw at it.

Thames water have paid dividends to their shareholders at the expense of improving the infrastructure.

The shareholders have been paid more than they should have done at the countries expense.