Thames Water Profits From Your Higher Bills, Not Less Sewage
Thames Water, a company synonymous with pumping raw sewage into rivers and leaking billions of liters annually, has reportedly 'returned to profit' according to the Financial Times. Their secret? Regulators let them hike customer bills. (Imagine that business model.) This isn't innovation; it's a guaranteed handout from captive consumers who have no other choice but to pay for a service that's,
quite literally, going down the drain. While shareholders celebrate, environmental groups routinely expose the company's scandalous levels of pollution and infrastructure neglect, issues consistently ignored when it comes time for another price increase. So, the public pays more for less, rivers run thicker with effluent, and a 'struggling' utility finds its footing on the backs of its customers.
Who needs efficient management or infrastructure investment when you have a government-sanctioned monopoly and the power to simply raise prices? It's a miracle of modern capitalism, really—for the few, anyway.