| Disgusting. on 17:38 - Feb 22 with 1167 views | DJR |
You're not wrong.
It's what comes of industries which should be run for the common good, instead being run for private gain, with corners cut and savings made wherever possible.
I have experience of this with Southern Water. We have a mains sewer which runs through our garden and there was flash flooding in our garden shortly after we moved in. The cause was the fact that the main sewers were not cleared out regularly as once they were, but that was because it was cheaper for Southern Water to clear up the mess up after.
Another incident involved a water leak in the road near us. As it was at night, it was left to leak because it too expensive to get somebody out, as I found out later. But the result was that for some reason, water got into the gas network with the result that water reached our boiler and cut out the heating. This in turn led to a water tanker entering our property to drain all the water away.
Neither of these incidents would have happened under nationalisation.
Incidentally, the second incident involved South East Water, and where we live, because there are separate companies for water and drainage, our bills are larger because there are two companies involved which adds to the costs (two sets of directors, two sets of staff etc). [Post edited 23 Feb 2023 9:28]
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| Disgusting. on 17:51 - Feb 22 with 1131 views | TalkingBlues |
It is laughable, every year I receive the same letter, putting up prices due to “maintaining infrastructure” then they go and pay £Billions to shareholders. |  |
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| Disgusting. on 18:41 - Feb 22 with 1033 views | jaykay |
plus their adverts on t.v. a waste of money, people out of the anglian region can't get their water . so what's the point of the advert |  |
| forensic experts say footers and spruces fingerprints were not found at the scene after the weekends rows |
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| Disgusting. on 19:05 - Feb 22 with 1014 views | GeoffSentence |
according to anglian water themselves they have 2.5 million household customers. That means they are paying £1840 in dividend payments for every household. |  |
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| Disgusting. on 19:34 - Feb 22 with 962 views | Swansea_Blue |
| Disgusting. on 19:05 - Feb 22 by GeoffSentence |
according to anglian water themselves they have 2.5 million household customers. That means they are paying £1840 in dividend payments for every household. |
They’re challenging the figure, saying it’s only £550M in dividends. The rest are inter group loans apparently. Doesn’t sound overly transparent to me, but I’ve not looked into it. If these companies have to be private, they should be not for profit imo, with all profits put back into the business.
They need to be held to account too, which isn’t happening. Whoever looks after southern & southwest England seem the worst - they’re always pumping out raw sewage. |  |
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| Disgusting. on 20:03 - Feb 22 with 911 views | DJR |
From the following, fairly recent, article.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/dec/01/water-companies-debts-since-
Customers pay on average 20% of their bill towards servicing debt (used to purchase water companies) and rewarding shareholders, says CMA.
Ofwat is refusing to limit the soaring debts run up by water companies as research reveals the firms have outstanding borrowing of almost £54bn accrued since privatisation.
Customers are paying on average £80 or 20% of their water bill towards servicing debt and rewarding shareholders, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).
The scale of debt, or gearing, taken on by the nine main water and sewerage companies in England is raising concerns about their financial stability as interest rates rise.
The level of net debt held by water companies is revealed as Guardian data shows the main water and sewerage firms in England have paid dividends to shareholders of £65.9bn up to 2022.
They have been running ratios of debt to capital value from 60% to more than 80%, according to Ofwat data. The regulator has considered inserting conditions into water company licences to limit the debt a water company can take on in order to protect the public from the impact of financial collapse because of high levels of borrowing. But Ofwat has so far rejected the idea.
The Guardian revealed on Wednesday more than 70% of all water companies in England are owned by international investment funds, private equity, banks, the super-rich, and in some cases businesses registered in tax havens. | | | |
| Disgusting. on 22:17 - Feb 22 with 817 views | HARRY10 |
It's almost as if the thickos of this country decided to opt out of protecting themselves against this sort of stuff. Polluted rivers, unclean beaches and sh it filled seas..... thems our betters thems is
Cut our wages ? Nah, over wise you'd have lofdads of them there government workers out on strike, innit
And now we is free, we can pay more for our energy, nevermind we have our own gas No more ruddy foreigners telling hus we shud be payin' less.
Rationing food. Stands to reason donnit ? |  | | |
| Disgusting. on 08:24 - Feb 23 with 647 views | Churchman |
The basics like water and energy that you and me already owned should never have been flogged off to the private sector in the first place. Absolute madness. And no, I didn’t buy any shares in them at the time on principle. I thought flogging off the family silver was suicide then and so it proved.
These companies are there 100% for their shareholders. Usually foreign. They are there to maximise profit. Nothing else. In principle, if I was their chairman I’d be looking to double, triple, quadruple water bills, cut investment to the bare minimum and just tip sewage into the rivers and seas. Not a penny more than necessary would go in maintenance either. Dead money. Not my problem or responsibility. Sweat the assets.
This is the basic dynamic. It’s what you get if you do what the tories did in the 80s. If it was up to me I’d renationalise water, gas, leccy, railways, post office. Shame the country is bankrupt. On its knees, third world or worse so it can never happen. |  | | |
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| Disgusting. on 08:54 - Feb 23 with 607 views | NthQldITFC |
| Disgusting. on 08:24 - Feb 23 by Churchman |
The basics like water and energy that you and me already owned should never have been flogged off to the private sector in the first place. Absolute madness. And no, I didn’t buy any shares in them at the time on principle. I thought flogging off the family silver was suicide then and so it proved.
These companies are there 100% for their shareholders. Usually foreign. They are there to maximise profit. Nothing else. In principle, if I was their chairman I’d be looking to double, triple, quadruple water bills, cut investment to the bare minimum and just tip sewage into the rivers and seas. Not a penny more than necessary would go in maintenance either. Dead money. Not my problem or responsibility. Sweat the assets.
This is the basic dynamic. It’s what you get if you do what the tories did in the 80s. If it was up to me I’d renationalise water, gas, leccy, railways, post office. Shame the country is bankrupt. On its knees, third world or worse so it can never happen. |
Unfettered, remorseless capitalism is a disgusting, idiotic and suicidal habit, which we somehow seem to have generally accepted is 'normal' over the years.
We feed our egos with misnomer terms like 'development', 'progress', 'wealth' and 'standard of living' and delude ourselves that we can keep on expanding and taking more and more.
It's beyond crazy and by and large most of us are fully signed up members of this terminal fantasy to a large extent.
Is there any point in waking up? |  |
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| Disgusting. on 09:32 - Feb 23 with 552 views | NthQldITFC |
| Disgusting. on 08:24 - Feb 23 by Churchman |
The basics like water and energy that you and me already owned should never have been flogged off to the private sector in the first place. Absolute madness. And no, I didn’t buy any shares in them at the time on principle. I thought flogging off the family silver was suicide then and so it proved.
These companies are there 100% for their shareholders. Usually foreign. They are there to maximise profit. Nothing else. In principle, if I was their chairman I’d be looking to double, triple, quadruple water bills, cut investment to the bare minimum and just tip sewage into the rivers and seas. Not a penny more than necessary would go in maintenance either. Dead money. Not my problem or responsibility. Sweat the assets.
This is the basic dynamic. It’s what you get if you do what the tories did in the 80s. If it was up to me I’d renationalise water, gas, leccy, railways, post office. Shame the country is bankrupt. On its knees, third world or worse so it can never happen. |
Churchman for PM. | |
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