Only drops of comfort for new Thames boss

IT IS day one for Chris Weston in his new job as boss of Thames Water. I hope he wasn’t too alarmed by the bulging in-tray when he arrived at his office in Reading. But the former Aggreko and British Gas boss will surely have no illusions about the scale of the challenge in front of him. The role has been something of a poisoned chalice in recent years. His immediate predecessor Sarah Bentley quit in June amid concerns about the financial stability of a utility that supplies the water to most Londoners. She had succeeded Steve Robertson who was sacked over his poor record on leakages in 2019.

Pressing concerns for Mr Weston include persuading shareholders who have heavily written down the value of their holdings over recent weeks to stump up billions more in equity; refinancing around £1 billion of debt due for repayment by the end of 2024; persuading Ofwat to allow the utility to increase bills by up to 40% by 2030; the threat of potential heavy fines over breaches of permits on sewage outflows, and a possible class action from customers.

Thames also seems to have made a powerful adversary in Jeremy Hunt whose south west Surrey constituents have been complaining about the compensation claims system after a water outage in November.

On the upside, the Thames Tideway super sewer project seems to be going well and on track for completion in 2025.

And all this rain should at least mean there is little prospect of a hosepipe ban this summer.

That may be a drop in the ocean compared with the torrent of problems. But it’s better than nothing.