We Own It @weownit.org.uk · Jul 14 A £35m fine is an outrageous insult. South East Water should have been in public hands yesterday. South East Water spent more on dividends and interest payouts in 2020-2022 than on investing in infrastructure. No wonder they can hardly supply water to households in the region.
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What has happened to water through privatization in Britain is numbing. Little investment in required maintenance and infrastructure.
These are all very successful companies - but only when you remember that their mission is to extract as much profit for their shareholders as possible and not to provide a decent standard of service to their customers.
But… and it’s a reason not an excuse… to be fair to the people running water companies this is the business model they’ve been presented with. People should get (and stay) angry with the real culprits here - Thatcher, Tebbit & most of the Conservative Party.
And of course the company will pay the fine by reducing operational costs, mainly in reducing maintenance, without it affecting shareholder dividends or fat-cat salaries.
Neo Liberalism... They make tons by flouting the regulations and safety rules, not investing in the infrastructure, as they should/agreed... then get fined a little bit, to try to placate the public!