So Thames Water (of pumping our rivers full of shit while hiking prices and paying out billions to shareholders fame) just got a £3 billion loan confirmed so they can keep operating for a few more months. They literally were one week out from running out of cash and could not be more desperate: the interest rate on this is 9.75%!!
Seriously what is Starmer doing letting this go on?? Surely it'll just mean we pay way more and nothing gets better, especially if our bills are just going to paying off interest.
by wet-wipe1000
33 comments
For the time being it will be their customer but eventually if the company fails then taxpayers will be lumbered with the debt.
theyve basically been given the bare minimum of what they have been lobbying for… 3 billion is a tiny amount compared to what they really need.
They are hoping to attract investors by rising prices more than 35 percent and this absolutely wont do that… it will be put into public ownership very soon… investors will run a mile now….
the cost of capital for water companies is set based on a hypothetical efficient operator, and not the specifics of any one company’s financing arrangements (although they form an evidence point that is taken into consideration)
so this shouldn’t feed through as something we directly pay for
That’s a shit rate… mainly because they have shit management.
First order: block all bonuses and dividends FFS.
second order: At this moment in time they should just all resign and put in some interim management whilst someone figures out what to actually do with it!
Thats around £1.3m a day?!? For a 10 year term. OMFG.
Calculations: £3bn at 9.75% for 10 year term, monthly payments.
Monthly- £470,772,871.92
Daily-£1,289,788.69
Total Interest for loan: £1,707,728,719.27.
Edit – shown work.
Boycott bills for a few months (but put the money aside) don’t pay til they have to send several threatening letters, the shortfall in cash could cause them to collapse and be taken back into public ownership. Your bill might even get written off…
EDIT: okay I’m reading that this merely sounds like a lot of money and a reprieve but actually it’s a pittance, at a rate that’s bad for them, that doesn’t get them out of the shit at all, but serves as one last chance to turn literally their entire financial ethos around and actually run the company properly, or else… they really are fucked next time?
I don’t get how this goes badly for them given how long they’ve openly given our money away in dividends while neglecting their actual job.
ORIGINAL: I’m genuinely gobsmacked that they just keep getting away with it. They don’t even try to hide what they do. And the powers that be are just going “yeah sure keep doing that, no no we trust you this time, okay bye now!”
Why?!
Don’t worry lads, I’m the poor schmuck paying this bill. 52% fucking increase in my bill. 😤
9.75% what… How do you find such a shit rate must be mate’s rate.
A terrible rate, for a company that essentially has a monopoly. Absolutely crazy.
This is the first time I’ve ever been in agreement with Jacob Rees-Mogg.
They should be allowed to collapse, investors should lose their money, and the govt should step in to pick up the pieces, nationalise it and operate it.
That’s the real reason for the price increases then.
It’s a shit rate as they’re saddled with debt and there’s a risk the lender will end up with nothing. Like anyone with a dodgy credit score isn’t going to get a cheap rate from the bank.
as a thames water customer, they are running an absolute racket here and i hope they’re nationalised as soon as possible if not sooner.
Capitalism pros with communism pros
We’ll keep paying though.
God help us, taxing us left, right and center and a million times over. Council Taxes, NI, Road, etc
Furthermore, they only get £1.5B, they need to meet certain benchmarks to unlock the remaining half, which will of course never happen, so they are effectively paying double the interest rate over monies actually collected, or 19.5%.
It’s usurious, but Thames Water will be bankrupt sooner rather than later, no sane lender would lend them money without serious guarantees on the principal of the loan.
I wish somehow everyone could agree to not pay Thames Water a penny more and just drive them under tbh.
They doubled my bill, was £325 now £650 for the year. I’m paying for their loans…
No cheap loans for failing businesses. Cash for controlling shares, make changes.
According to the group Take Back Water:
Bills for Thames Water customers are already going up an average of 31% to make us pay for the mess they’ve created. Now they want to be allowed to hike them a shocking 59%.
23b in debt….. this must be on purpose. They literally have a monopoly and know how much income they will have every year. How’s it so poorly managed?
Got to wonder how anyone would loan a company money with the terms that a good portion of said loans will be paid out in bonuses to shareholders
the shareholders …. oh wait
It’s always the consumer who pays. The consumer who doesn’t have a choice but to pay. The consumer who doesn’t get to choose the service provider. The consumer who doesn’t get to challenge the costs of their bills with the provider. The same consumer who has to live with the raw untreated sewage that was dumped into their rivers and lakes by the service provider. The consumer who has to put up with endless road blocks, temporary traffic management and late night maintenance all in the name of upgrading the network.
When is this racket going to stop honestly. I thought labour was going to get a grip on this. They talked a big game before coming into office. Now it’s fizzled out into nothing. This is disgustingly pathetic. What kind of stupid country sells off their utilities to private equity companies. The stupidity is beyond comprehension. Who ever signed off on this idiotic nonsense years ago needs digging up, burned and buried in an unmarked grave.
A nice loan so they can afford to pay the share holders their dividends I see
It’s me again isn’t it?
Documentary on telly about it right now. Workers doing their best , management looks inept at best. The fact they are still accepting bonuses is disgusting.
Keir must be getting a back hander or something, because no self-respecting, morally-centric, law-abiding, common sensical person would agree to lend a loan to a company that has absolutely shafted its customers and puts shit in the rivers.
No other reason.
Surely there must be a huge law firm out there who is willing to take Thames Water to court for breach of contract or something?!?!
Still, could be worse. We could be giving 5 billion to a foreign country with no chance of getting any of it back.
<raises hand> me I guess just your av London water enjoyer.
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