"It's a massive injustice"
Campaigners have called Thames Water’s £3 billion bailout, approved by the High Court yesterday, a “massive injustice”.
Thames Water is already struggling with debts of £19 billion and requested another £3 billion loan, warning that without it, they would have run out of cash in six weeks.
Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, told Channel 4 News: “It’s a massive injustice”.
She added: “Thames Water is not just any other company, it can’t just go through a restructuring plan, […] this is a public utility serving nearly a quarter of the population.”
We Own It has claimed that the loan could add £250 to the average household’s Thames Water bill.
Ash Smith, Founder of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, said that Thames Water wanting to add a further £3 billion to its debt is “the stupidest idea anybody can think of”.
He added that Thames Water should not be bailed out: “what needs to happen is what would happen to any other company in this situation, it would go bust”.
Liberal Democrat MP for Witney Charlie Maynard, who is challenging the judgement, said: “I stand by my evidence to the court that allowing Thames Water to take on £3bn more debt is not in the interests of their millions of customers. They will all be paying the price for this futile, expensive, and extremely short-term bail out.”
He added: “This restructuring is simply throwing good money after bad. The money from our bills which is being spent on interest repayments is desperately needed to repair water infrastructure, improve customer service, and clean up our rivers.”
Mr Justice Leech, who heard the case, said: “The costs of finance and adviser fees in the present case are very high.
“Indeed, they might be described as eye-watering.”
Before the loan is even paid out, £443 million will be immediately spent on interest payments and unspecified costs to the new creditors.
A further £245 million will go toward existing interest payments, while professional fees for the loan will amount to £210 million.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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