The wannabe new owners of Thames Water say they are “fully committed to a new transparent and collaborative relationship with regulators”. Jolly good. Unfortunately, this embrace of transparency does not appear to extend to the poor old customers.
At this late stage in the dance to decide Thames’s future, you’d expect London & Valley Water – the banner under which the consortium of creditors now sail – to opt for straight-talking and openness. Their pitch to rescue Thames, after all, rests on the analysis that they are the folk to inject the necessary pragmatism into a company that has lived a hand-to-mouth existence for years while promoting fantasy turnaround plans.
