Thames Water has been under fire in recent months by sewage campaigners over its environmental performance, announcement it had racked up £14 billion in debt and hired Cathryn Ross as its new CEO - the former CEO of water regulator Ofwat.
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00:00 In June, the UK government was reportedly drawing up emergency contingency plans to
00:04 temporarily bring Thames water back into public hands as its debt pile reached a mammoth £14
00:10 billion. The announcement of the firm's debt came after public anger has been mounting
00:15 over the amount of sewage being poured into UK rivers. Ofwatch warned last December over
00:21 the financial resilience of Thames water. In July, the water company's investors agreed to provide
00:27 £750 million in funds over the next 18 months to save it from being brought back into public hands.
00:34 However, the struggling firm had hoped to receive £1 billion from its shareholders.
00:39 The government has said it is ready to act in a worst-case scenario if the company does collapse
00:44 and insisted Thames water customers will not be impacted. It all comes after its CEO,
00:51 Sarah Bentley, resigned after promising to forgo her bonuses in the wake of bouncing
00:56 public outrage over sewage spills. The water company employed Catherine Ross as her replacement,
01:02 who was previously the CEO of the water regulator Ofwatch. Sewage campaigners have
01:08 criticised Thames water for employing Ross. They said the waters have been muddied as we
01:13 need a robust regulator, not one that can't draw the line between regulator and regulated.
01:19 Not long into her new role, Ross was asked to apologise to Thames water customers
01:25 for being the one who has put the company in the situation it currently faces.
01:29 Labour MP Darren Jones said that during her time as Ofwatch CEO, she had allowed the Australian
01:35 Investment Bank in Macquarie to ramp up Thames water's debt from £3 billion to £10 billion,
01:40 while taking out nearly £3 billion in dividends, which he said ultimately caused the crisis the
01:46 company now faces. Jones pressed Ross for an apology to taxpayers for potentially putting
01:51 them in this position, exposing taxpayers to billions of pounds, but Ross refused to apologise.
01:58 Earlier in July, Thames water was hit with a £3.3 million fine after it admitted to pumping
02:04 millions of sewage into rivers near Gatwick airport. Sewage campaigners have told National
02:10 World the company should be headed off and it is entirely predictable, as the firm admitted
02:16 it had not installed any smart water meters as of yet, despite promising 204,700 of them
02:23 would be installed in the Thames Valley by 2025.