Cute timing – or damning coincidence? On the day the Independent Water Commission released its long-awaited interim report, private equity giant KKR pulled out of a deal to rescue Thames Water from financial oblivion. It’s the clearest signal yet: the privatised model of water provision is collapsing under its own weight. Thames Water is circling the drain and the Government must now intervene.
A Special Administration Regime should no longer be a theoretical tool for future use; it must be used now. The myth that it will cost taxpayers billions must be exposed: the Secretary of State has the power to write-off Thames Water’s junk debt at no cost, and issue Government-backed bonds at under half the cost, typically 4% interest rather than 10%. Imagine all the extra money that could fix decades of profiteering, criminal pollution and neglect.
Buried on page 78 of the Commission’s 108-page report, paragraph 210 finally addresses what campaigners and communities have been saying for years: the final report will have to address the big, unavoidable questions – Special Administration for failing firms, rising customer bills, protections for households, and long-term investment in sewage treatment, clean drinking water and water security. These are at the heart of what the Commission should be looking to fix, urgently.
We welcome the report’s recognition of systemic failure: the lack of long-term planning, feeble regulation that let debt soar while dividends flowed, and underfunded environmental watchdogs unable to do their jobs. But the report still reads like it’s trying to impress investors, not the British public swimming in sewage.
KKR’s withdrawal proves this isn’t just a regulatory failure – it’s a market failure. We’re 35 years into the privatisation experiment and the results are in: underinvestment, pollution, bloated debt, and broken trust.
The Government now has a clear mandate. Step in. Take control. Clean up the mess. And don’t wait for a final report to give permission – act before the system fails completely.
What’s needed is bold reform: water companies run for public good, not private gain; regulators that can act, not just observe; infrastructure built to last; and communities empowered to hold polluters to account.
We get one chance to fix this. Let’s not flush it.