When England’s water industry was privatised in 1989, we were told it would lead to ‘shareholder democracy’. Instead, what we’ve seen is a monopoly which has resulted in consumer bills soaring, while infrastructure deteriorates and the debt of water companies soars.
Since the 1990s, investment by the 10 largest water and sewage companies has fallen by 15%. Now new research published by the Financial Times has found that 16 water monopolies have paid out a total of £78bn in dividends in the 32 years since privatisation.
The paper states: “The £78bn payout is nearly half the £190bn the companies spent in the same three decades on infrastructure. The utilities meanwhile chalked up more than £64bn net in debt over the same period, despite being sold at privatisation with no borrowings.”
The FT also finds that water companies in England and Wales paid £2.5bn in dividends and added £8.2bn to their net debt in the two financial years since 2021.
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Here’s how much you would’ve saved if water had been in public ownership