“Of course the Government is carefully monitoring this but it is for the regulator in the first instance,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman mentioned.
He added that “while there are clearly issues with Thames Water, they have secure and committed funding”.
It comes as Thames Water’s troubles has shone a light-weight on the precarious monetary well being of different British suppliers.
Total debt within the sector hit £60.6 billion final yr, growing by greater than £1 billion from the earlier yr, Ofwat mentioned.
Late final yr, the watchdog flagged 4 different companies it mentioned it was most frightened about when it comes to their monetary well being. These had been Southern Water , Portsmouth, Yorkshire, and SES Water.
But ministers have reiterated that clients won’t see their water provides affected on account of monetary troubles.
Health minister Neil O’Brien informed Sky News in a message to clients: “Absolutely nothing is going to happen in terms of either their bills or their access to water, we have contingency plans – like we do in all of these network utilities – to manage any difficult situations.”
Senior Conservative Cabinet minister Mel Stride mentioned on Wednesday that “water will continue to flow” regardless of the end result for the corporate.
Wading in on the saga, the Consumer Council for Water mentioned the prospect of “substantial” invoice rises to fund funding within the sector ought to include a “strong safety net” to guard households which might be struggling.
The group mentioned that invoice rises might come from firms’ investing extra in environmental insurance policies and enhancing water and sewerage providers.
Thames Water, which is owned by a consortium of pension funds and sovereign wealth funds, careworn that it’s working with shareholders to safe the money it wants.
The agency, which serves 15 million households, had a debt pile of £14 billion final yr and the best gearing degree of all water firms – a key measure of an organization’s monetary danger.
Meanwhile, the biggest shareholder of Tideway, the corporate constructing London’s new “super sewer”, sought to emphasize that the mission is impartial of Thames Water.
International Public Partnerships Limited, which owns an 18% stake in Tideway, mentioned that “Tideway is a completely separate company to Thames Water”.
Thames Water is about to function and handle the tunnel when development completes, as a consequence of be by 2024.
