In the 34 years since England’s water was privatised by Margaret Thatcher, water companies have paid out £2bn to shareholders on average every year.
Reports are now emerging that the government and the Ofwat watchdog are drawing up contingency plans for the collapse of Thames Water, amid fears that Britain’s biggest water company cannot survive because of its huge debt pile.
Why does Thames Water have so much debt? Previous research by academics has linked the debt taken on to shareholder payments.
