Consumers may be irritated by the performance of water utilities, says Alex Brummer, but their solidity and growth potential make them sound investments
A couple of years ago, while on holiday in Mallorca, I was disturbed to find that NatWest had decided that my credit risk was so great that no more euros would be allowed from the Spanish hole in the wall. When I contacted the bank, it was revealed that during our three-week absence from Blighty, the utility Thames Water had decided, without consultation, to remove more than £6,000 from my account by direct debit.
This might have seemed reasonable if I ran a car wash, a market garden or a brewery, but for your average suburban home in Richmond it seemed a trifle excessive. Had I been a pensioner or someone with a weak heart, receipt of the world’s largest private water bill might have been enough to send me to A&E. As a financial journalist, I was able to go straight to the top at Thames Water (then being sold by the German utility RWE) to uncover the source of the mystery bill – a leak between the road and our metered house – and the cash and my credit rating were restored.
As a consumer, it is difficult to have much sympathy with the British water industry. In a country where the rain never seems to stop, at the first sign of a heat wave we are asked not to flush the toilets and to drink bath water, or some other nonsense. To add insult to industry, we learn that the very same Thames Water, which is currently in overdrive replacing Victorian pipes across London, has an appalling leakage record. Meanwhile, a publicly quoted utility, Severn Trent, is ordered by its regulator Ofwat to pay a fine of £35.8 million for providing false returns for leakage to the authorities and offering poor customer service.
More articles from: Alex Brummer | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Hiscox continues to thrive with good growth
09/11/2009Croma maiden profit despite fall in turnover
09/11/2009Watford needs £6.5m to meet shortfall
09/11/2009Dignity in line with expectations
09/11/2009Keep on digging: Boris’s route to recovery
Elliot Wilson Martin Vander WeyerFor whom the tolls mean tax-free profits
Neil CollinsThere’s worse to come as we all get older
Ruth Lea David Coates
GASCONY, SW France, near Condom-en-Armagnac 13th Century stone house, 21st Century luxury for 12 in 5 en-suites. 50 acres +
IF YOU ARE PLANNING A CHAMPAGNE RECEPTION and looking for some light entertainment, you can now hire London's busiest steel
BOSC LEBAT, SW France. Only 45 minutes from Toulouse Airport with daily flights from most provincial airports avoiding the horrors
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2009 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Be the first to comment on this article!
Back to top