And so the farce continues. Ofwat has just slapped a £104 million fine on Thames Water: a delightful company in nearly as much shit as its customers. How exactly will it pay it?
Thames is already in breach of its operating licence, as the Ofwat boss David Black may vaguely remember, after having had its debt downgraded to junk in recent weeks by the big two credit ratings agencies: Moody’s and S&P. The company’s operating business is drowning in £15.2 billion of net debt.
Its nine shareholders have refused to put any more equity in, declaring the business “uninvestable”. And its chief executive, Chris Weston, has said that unless he can find someone else to cough up, Thames will run out of money by next