£10bn Thames Water rescue bid poses ‘unfair costs to customers’

A £10 billion rescue bid for Thames Water poses an “unfair cost to consumers”, Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds has warned.

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00:00Ministers have said they are not convinced a £10 billion rescue deal for Thameswater is good enough for consumers or

00:08the environment.

00:09Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds wrote to Regulator Ofwat on Monday to say that the rescue bid does not sufficiently protect

00:18consumers' interests and would lead to reduced performance standards and delays to vital infrastructure improvements.

00:27Ofwat is said to have been close to accepting the offer from Bidding Consortium London and Valley Water, which has

00:36proposed injecting £10 billion into debt-laden Thameswater in return for any new fines over sewage leaks being waived for

00:46four years.

00:48The consortium said it was confident in its plan and insisted that all other routes offer significantly worse outcomes for

00:56customers and the environment.

00:58But the misgivings over the deal leave Thameswater facing the prospect of temporary nationalisation and creates more uncertainty for the

01:08troubled utility.

01:09Thameswater, which is Britain's largest water supplier, is hoping to secure this deal in order to stave off temporary nationalisation

01:21after being left close to collapse by nearly an astonishing £20 billion of debt.

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