• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Water Company Dividends up £540m from last year...

Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon in Ross on Wye, untreated sewage going into the river😩
Screenshot_20230510_085345_Facebook.jpg
 
Ady Brayshaw said:
Requires a subscription Joe. It couldn't be read. Moderate coverage on BBC radio. Coverage now gaining momentum.
Click to expand...
Yes I can't access it now.

Effectively the article exposes the fact that the Water Companies have set up complex 'byzantine' ownership structures to enable the payment of both 'internal dividends' between intermediate holding companies, and external dividends to the pension funds, equity funds and sovereign wealth funds which own the holding companies.

This is in response to the threat of Ofwat making changes to licencing conditions from April 2025 which can block the payment of dividends. It appears that even before the new licencing is in place then Ofwat will have been outmanoeuvred as they can't regulate the holding companies. or prevent the payment of internal dividends.

Some shocking figures in the article, including the revelation that Anglian Water has paid out £2.5 billion of 'internal' dividends since 2017!!!

Apparently the total borrowings of all the water companies now stands at £60.6 billion.....despite having been sold with zero debt three decades ago. Presumably this racking up of debt is a clever trick to make sure any Govt cannot afford to renationalise the water companies.

It is utterly rotten.
 
And here’s the thing……Scottish Water is a nationalised industry and it’s water quality is hardly monitored which is apparently the same in France and Spain ( who are Nationalised industries also ). Labour have apparently said that they have no plans to nationalise water or energy companies. Companies like Southern Water (who have not paid a dividend since 2017 ) would have to ( presumably ) simply ask for billions more money from their customers to fund improvements. The bottom line here appears to be that nobody really has an answer to this problem accept to demand a lot more money from taxpayers. That simply isn’t going to be popular is it?
G.T.
 
It’s not ‘new’ is it….. In 1908 the the New Scientist offered an ‘ illustrated guide to Britains unspeakable beaches’. Sorry for the history lesson guys but I am learning more every day and what is glaring obvious is that this is all about money ( of course) and that the bottom line is really ‘taxpayers’, that’s us of course and how much we are prepared to pay.
G.T.
 
Graham Tremble said:
It’s not ‘new’ is it….. In 1908 the the New Scientist offered an ‘ illustrated guide to Britains unspeakable beaches’. Sorry for the history lesson guys but I am learning more every day and what is glaring obvious is that this is all about money ( of course) and that the bottom line is really ‘taxpayers’, that’s us of course and how much we are prepared to pay.
G.T.
Click to expand...
Very interesting article here from the highly regarded Dieter Helm, Prof of Economic Policy at Oxford. He's suggests a third way which involves planning on an integrated catchment basis and completely overhauling the regulatory framework.

dieterhelm.co.uk

Time to pull the plug on the water privatisation model - Dieter Helm

A look at what has gone wrong with the UK water privatisation model, and what needs to be done to ensure a good quality water service.
dieterhelm.co.uk dieterhelm.co.uk
 
Joe Winstanley said:
Very interesting article here from the highly regarded Dieter Helm, Prof of Economic Policy at Oxford. He's suggests a third way which involves planning on an integrated catchment basis and completely overhauling the regulatory framework.

dieterhelm.co.uk

Time to pull the plug on the water privatisation model - Dieter Helm

A look at what has gone wrong with the UK water privatisation model, and what needs to be done to ensure a good quality water service.
dieterhelm.co.uk dieterhelm.co.uk
Click to expand...
I am all for a plan but not one without any predicted costs ( though I accept these always ‘go through the roof’ ) or no example worldwide where this system actually works. After COVID my belief in the validity of ‘professors’ credentials took a downward hit I’m afraid when it soon became apparent that they were simply guessing about the answers to that particular problem and weren’t adverse to outrageous self promotion. Still, anybody with a detailed plan to resolve the river pollution issue is worth consideration. Thanks Joe.
G.T.
 
Sadly it will be far to late, there apology is worth nothing, they are trying to curry favour. I campaigned long and hard for the WA’s not to be privatised, attending lots of angling clubs AGM’s Universities, Wild life organisations W.I. groups etc, but I felt I was on a loser all along, but it needed to be said. We were told we would own the companies, utter poppy cock, we already owned them. The fat cats are laughing all the way to the offshore banks. Ofwat are a useless entity, along with the EA, who have their pensions invested in the polluters, we don’t stand a chance. Sadly we have got to pay for there poor running of the water companies, while the shareholders and top people get big bonuses, how can they honestly be paid a bonus for a failed service?.
 
Graham Tremble said:
I am all for a plan but not one without any predicted costs ( though I accept these always ‘go through the roof’ ) or no example worldwide where this system actually works. After COVID my belief in the validity of ‘professors’ credentials took a downward hit I’m afraid when it soon became apparent that they were simply guessing about the answers to that particular problem and weren’t adverse to outrageous self promotion. Still, anybody with a detailed plan to resolve the river pollution issue is worth consideration. Thanks Joe.



G.T.
Click to expand...
Well they weren't simply guessing were they. It was a very active situation and to provide an idea of what might happen they were looking at early indications from models. I for one was extremely proud of how this country handled COVID.
Costs are predicted, Graham, though obviously based on somewhat of a moving set of goalposts.
 
COVID discussions featured ‘experts ‘ on panels who could not decide on ‘ total lockdown for indeterminated times scale’or no lockdown at all. You couldn’t have a more divided view bearing in mind these ‘professors’ were working with the same information. That was my point. Professor Van-Tam at least started his comments with ‘my best guess ‘ which was at least honest.
G.T.
 
Neil Smart said:
However a few have declined their bonuses because of sewage discharges
It is becoming more of an issue now thanks to folk highlighting these issues.
Click to expand...
A noble few.
Vigilance is never needed more than now.
A glacier is irreplaceable but a river liken the Wye is not far behind surely, if it is allowed to suffer wanton exploration as an unlicensed dumping opportunity for agricultural byproducts. It is pollution.

Under attack from unscrupulous profiteers in food production industries, who may talk a good game, about the environment, their animal welfare in thier sheds or nitrates on the land, the rivers and lakes reflect the truth.

Multiple agencies across the spectrum report that water pollution is up. Sewage and nitrates etc.

This married to a reduction in funding of water monitoring by official agencies and a heavier burden on voluntary and volunteers, is not a conspiracy theory, it is fact.

To question the pollution is painted as if you are a radical trouble maker.

I have no answers how to fight back for our rivers, but anglers, no matter how much some sections of society are loath to acknowledge, are GUARDIANS of Britain's waterways, waters and banksides.

Suggestion welcome.
Ian
 
What's going on with Thames Water? They are in the sh1t, Their CEO has departed rather rapidly, apparently there's been emergency talks being held to secure it from collapsing with £14 Billion debt!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top