Thames Water funding woes deepen after shareholders pull investment plan

Troubled utility Thames Water has said its shareholders will not be injecting the first £500 million of funding that was agreed last summer into the group as industry regulations make its business plan “uninvestible”. Thames Water – the UK’s biggest water supplier with 15 million households across London and the South East – said the funding plan drawn up last July was subject to conditions, including a business plan that is supported by “appropriate regulatory arrangements”. It said the regulations being imposed by industry watchdog Ofwat “make the PR24 plan “uninvestible”, and as a result the shareholder support letter from last July “has not been satisfied”. “The first £500 million of the new equity that had been anticipated will not be provided by Thames Water’s shareholders by 31 March 2024,” it revealed. Thames Water said it was in ongoing talks with industry regulator Ofwat to secure regulations that are “affordable for customers, deliverable and financeable for Thames Water, as well as investible for equity investors”. It said once the new regulatory plan is agreed with Ofwat, it “intends to pursue all options to secure the required equity investment from new or existing shareholders”. Thames Water has been battling to secure...

Read more