privatise

Water privatisers ‘treating system as an ATM,’ campaigners say as bills set to hike

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/water-privatisers-treating-system-atm-campaigners-say-bills-set-hike

 People collect bottled water at a water station in East Grinstead, after South East Water blamed bad weather for more water outages in Kent and parts of Sussex, January 13, 2026.

WATER privatisers are treating the system as an ATM, campaigners said today as South East Water (SEW) confirmed bills will rise to an average of £324 a year from April.

The increase comes as the company faces an Ofwat investigation after thousands of homes and businesses were left without water in recent weeks.

About 30,000 properties across Kent and Sussex were affected earlier this month, which SEW blamed on Storm Goretti causing burst pipes and power cuts. 

This followed a similar incident in December, when 24,000 customers in Tunbridge Wells were left without drinking water for up to two weeks.

Ofwat is also investigating whether SEW breached customer service obligations, marking its first probe under the regulator’s customer-focused licence condition.

If breaches are confirmed, the company could be placed into special administration.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/water-privatisers-treating-system-atm-campaigners-say-bills-set-hike

Image of a burst water main.
Image of a burst water main.
Continue ReadingWater privatisers ‘treating system as an ATM,’ campaigners say as bills set to hike

Morning Star Editorial: South East Water should be taken into public ownership

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/south-east-water-should-be-taken-public-ownership

 A worker hands over bottled water at a water station in East Grinstead, after bad weather was blamed for more water outages in Kent and parts of Sussex, January 12, 2026

HOW much longer are people in south-east England expected to put up with the depredations of South East Water?

Seventeen communities across Sussex and Kent, including 30,000 households, were without a water supply today, in some cases for the fourth day running. And this comes after prolonged outages last year, notably in and around Tunbridge Wells.

There is no more basic human requirement than a water supply. Without it, society starts to crumble and, indeed, schools, libraries and health clinics have had to shut in affected areas while elderly residents have been asked to travel up to seventy miles to secure a bottled water supply.

The only thing not in short supply from South East Water is excuses, mainly around the weather — that and fat-cat payments of course.

As recently as 2023 the company was spending millions more on dividends and interest payments on debt — it was debt-free when privatised by Thatcher — than it was in investing in its crumbling infrastructure.

And bungling chief executive David Hinton was, almost unbelievably, paid a £115,000 bonus last year on top of his £400,000 salary.

This was despite not only South East Water’s wretched service delivery but also the fact that it had to turn to its owners —  mainly overseas investment funds — for an extra £200 million in cash to stave off insolvency. The company is barely more stable than the effectively bankrupt Thames Water. Local MPs have unsurprisingly called on Hinton to resign.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/south-east-water-should-be-taken-public-ownership

Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: South East Water should be taken into public ownership

Thames Water faces collapse as crisis talks take ‘longer than expected’

Spread the love

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/03/thames-water-half-year-profit-leaps-to-nearly-400m-even-as-collapse-risk-remains

Thames Water has been on the brink of collapse for more than a year, struggling under the weight of £17bn in net debt, built up over decades since privatisation. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Debt-ridden utility company warns of ‘material uncertainty’ despite seeing profits rise to more than £400m

Thames Water has said crisis talks to secure its future with lenders are taking “longer than expected” and will drag into 2026 as it faces the prospect of a collapse into government control.

Britain’s biggest water company on Wednesday said it had swung to a profit of £414m for the six months to September helped by bills rising by nearly a third, after losing £149m in the same period in 2024.

Despite the jump in reported profits, the company said there was “material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt” on its status as a going concern. A collapse into government control under a special administration regime (SAR) – a form of temporary nationalisation – “could occur in the very near term” if it is unable to agree the terms of a formal takeover by its controlling lenders.

Those creditors have asked the regulator, Ofwat, and the government for Thames to be let off future fines for pollution, arguing the prospect of hundreds of millions of pounds of extra costs is making a turnaround impossible.

The standoff has already continued for months longer than originally anticipated and the talks were expected to have concluded by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, the company said: “Discussions are taking longer than expected but this is a complex situation and the current phase of the restructuring plan will likely take a number of months to conclude.”

…

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/dec/03/thames-water-half-year-profit-leaps-to-nearly-400m-even-as-collapse-risk-remains

Continue ReadingThames Water faces collapse as crisis talks take ‘longer than expected’

Campaigners warn of PFI 2.0 as government backs private funding for neighbourhood health centres

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-warn-pfi-20-government-backs-private-funding-neighbourhood-health-centres

A registration form and a stethoscope at the Temple Fortune Health Centre GP Practice near Golders Green, London

A “PFI 2.0” will divert money away from patients and into shareholders’ pockets, campaigners warned today as the government announced plans to use private finance to fund new neighbourhood health centres.

The government has pledged to open 250 centres as part of an effort to shift outpatient care away from hospitals.

Officials say they will serve as “one-stop shops,” bringing together GPs, nurses, dentists and pharmacists under one roof.

Announcing the plans, Health Minister Karin Smyth warned that government funding “will only get us so far,” citing a £40 billion black hole in the NHS’s finances.

“We need to use every measure available to us, which is why we’re leveraging in private investment to construct some of these centres, making the most of all expertise and every tool at our disposal,” she said.

But campaigners have warned that the use of public-private partnerships could repeat the mistakes of disastrous PFI (private finance initiative) schemes, in which private firms financed the construction of hospitals, leaving taxpayers lumbered with high-interest repayments over the long term.

…

Article continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/campaigners-warn-pfi-20-government-backs-private-funding-neighbourhood-health-centres

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Continue ReadingCampaigners warn of PFI 2.0 as government backs private funding for neighbourhood health centres

Drop ‘dangerous and damaging’ private finance plans for NHS, Chancellor warned

Spread the love

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/drop-dangerous-and-damaging-private-finance-plans-nhs-chancellor-warned

Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivers a speech in the media briefing room of 9 Downing Street in central London, ahead of the Budget later this month, November 4, 2025

ACADEMICS and campaigners have called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to drop “dangerous and damaging” NHS private finance plans ahead of the autumn Budget next week.

The government is considering new PFI-style deals to build “neighbourhood health centres” under plans to move care from hospitals into community settings.

In their 10-year NHS plan, ministers set out the possibility of relying on public-private partnerships (PPP) to fund the centres, fuelling concerns that taxpayers could be left footing the bill for high borrowing costs.

Campaigners gathered outside the Department of Health and Social Care yesterday in a protest organised by We Own It to demand a halt to the plans.

The anti-privatisation group has also co-ordinated a letter, signed by 50 academics, which calls on Ms Reeves to “abandon this dangerous and damaging proposal and fund public services through direct taxation or borrowing.”

Signed by figures such as Lord Sikka, the letter calls the arguments for private finance “bogus” and warns Ms Reeves that “using private capital in the NHS is no different from a family buying their home using a payday loan.”

Campaigners have warned about the dangers of risking a repeat of disastrous PFI (private finance initiative) schemes, in which private firms funded the building of hospitals, while high-interest repayments were made over the long term.

Research by the Institute for Public Policy Research found that for just £13 billion of investment, the NHS was landed with an £80bn bill.

…

Continues at https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/drop-dangerous-and-damaging-private-finance-plans-nhs-chancellor-warned

Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the "hard times".
Keir Starmer commits to play the caretaker role for Capitalism through the “hard times”.
Continue ReadingDrop ‘dangerous and damaging’ private finance plans for NHS, Chancellor warned