Usk Friends

Ah yes, @Ofwat's magic money tree which apparently makes the water industry worth £106 BILLION. The actual price, close to nothing. Here's how it works. Make up a number for what you think WCs might have been worth in 1990 after privatisation, note the make up the number bit, that's exactly what they did, add interest payments, maintenance costs, costs of fixing the sewage works, leaky pipes, Ofwat's kitchen sink, the EA's kitchen sink, next door's kitchen sink and just about anything else WCs could securitise against that number and when you're done with that multiply the whole damn thing by inflation for the last 35 years and bingo there it is, £106 billion. Easy. Now you know why @Ofwat would have you believe @thameswater is currently worth £21,008,425,000. 🤣 When oh when will ministers learn to say nothing until they understand what they're saying? theguardian.com/business/202…

Holy moly!!!!!!!! So how’s that taking control of the water industry thing working out then?

"It is not stewardship when the ship has been sold off and the crew left to drown." Hear hear that man. Very well said. 👏👏👏 Clive Lewis discussing govt's so called "largest ever", so called review of the water industry.

About 1:00pm I’ll be appearing on @theJeremyVine show @BBCRadio2 taking about the water industry. 10 of the water company fat cat CEOs were asked to come and debate it with me. They all refused. Transparency, accountability? There is none. All we are left with is a failed industry, a failed system of regulation and failed political oversight. See you soon. Tune in.

LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE! "This is the largest penalty Ofwat has ever issued," screamed the headlines. Blatantly, and I suspect deliberately not true, it's a lie. Largest fine so far was @SouthernWater in 2019, £126m and you'll want to note, the impression also given, that shareholders reach into their pockets and pay these fines is equally untrue. These fines rarely if ever get paid at all and certainly not by shareholders. No doubt Ofwat, Defra, ministers and government will be keen to set the record straight as obviously no one would intend to blatantly mislead if not down right lie to the British public.

Yet another fun 'Fact' that turns out not to be particulate accurate. That number came from a report, written by a think tank, and bought and paid for by 4 water companies. Moody's, one of the world's leading capital / money market research / analyst companies thinks it would cost £14bn Who you wanna believe, 4 water companies and a think tank or one of the world's leading specialists? Hmm? 🤔

Surely north London LAs wouldn't be ducking their responsibilities to deal with sewage being dumped into local rivers would they? "In Barnet, the council told London Centric this is “a complex area with fragmented legislation” and it has held meetings with Thames Water to agree a process for how it can address these problems more swiftly in future." Total nonense. Let me help you @BarnetCouncil see under section 59 Building Act 1984 there's nothing complex about any of it, it's your problem, fix it. PS. I'm told north London councils, @EalingCouncil, @Brent_Council, Barnet, @EnfieldCouncil and @haringeycouncil are sitting on 100s of enforcement case files and doing little if anything about any of them. The only thing "fragmented" in any of this is their inability to do their jobs.

Thames Water's astonishing letter to customers trying to gaslight away why bills are going up. Not a word about about cooperate greed, monopolistic abuse, financial engineering or regulatory incompetence. Wonder why?