Opinion
Britain’s water industry is drowning in dysfunction
The Thames Water fiasco further calls into question whether the model of private ownership has been right for such an essential public service.
Matthew BrookerPause for a moment to consider the surreal mess that has engulfed Thames Water.
Being a monopoly supplier of water is about as safe a business as it is possible to imagine. You are selling a commodity that no one can live without to a captive customer base that has nowhere else to go, at regulated prices designed to ensure you can make a profit (and which have risen far faster than inflation since the industry was taken out of public hands in the late 1980s).
Bloomberg Opinion
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