It's been a while since the last update but we are reaching a vital point in the battle to return the water industry to public ownership.

Thames Water, the UK's largest water and wastewater company, are in crisis. With a debt pile that is thought to be somewhere between £15 - 18 billion, shareholders have withdrawn an offer to pump a further £500 million into the company, leaving it unable to meet its short term debt obligations.

This is due to the refusal of the industry's financial regulator, Ofwat, to allow Thames to impose a mandatory 40% bill increase on customers by the end of the decade.

As such, there is a genuine possibility that the government will imminently need to step in and move the beleaguered company into temporary public ownership. This provides campaigners with an opportunity.

We feel very strongly that a temporary return to public ownership, with a likely taxpaxer bailout, is completely counterproductive. As such we have signed an open letter from We Own It calling for the move to be made permanently. 

Why should we, the tax payers, help Thames Water out of a hole of their own making after years of gross mismanagement?

If you would like to view and share the open letter, you can do so by clicking the following link: https://weownit.org.uk/blog/open-letter-prime-minister

And if you could take the time, sharing the letter on social media and tagging the Prime Minister would be a great help.

Thames Water returning to public ownership could create a domino effect where other debt-ridden water companies eventually follow.

There is suddenly a considerable opportunity for us to win this fight and your support could make the difference.

Thank you,

Ed