Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'

Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum'
[ Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum' ]

Rules! No Party Politics,swearing,derogatory remarks or we delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'. As an Election will be held on July 4th 2024 we are waivering our 'No Politics Rule aslong as Posts are Respectful and don't include exhortations to vote one way or another.

bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Brian on 28/8/2024, 14:14:27

Thames water have said they need a 59% increase on water rates to survive, the amount of untreated sewage, leaks and general upkeep is criminal yet the and other water companies have collectively paid out hundreds of millions in dividends, bonuses and golden handshakes. Not one of them has constructed any new reservoirs, the systems have been allowed to get into such a state it's going to cost billions to put right. OFWAT are like most of the regulators useless and overpaid,they all need to be overhauled and made fit for purpose. Instead of city fatcats on 6 figure salaries for part time hours how about a few customers from the general public to balance the board and rattle a few cages.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Liz Dance on 28/8/2024, 14:46:36, in reply to "bleeding the country dry, literally "

Absolutely true Brian, it is quite unbelievable the difference in water charges and quality of water throughout the UK, we come under Welsh Water, the water is quite nice, since moving to Herefordshire we have saved a fortune as we used to live in Buckinghamshire where Thames Water was the supplier, we always bought large bottles of water for drinking as we just couldn’t drink the water from the taps - yuk the most revolting water we have ever tasted. Whenever my late dad came to visit he always brought canisters of Northumbrian water, mind you this all started after I made the mistake of giving him a cup of Earl Grey tea, after drinking it he concluded that what I had been telling him about water quality was true, I just didn’t have the heart to tell him my mistake he always assumed it was the water!!!

The charges from Welsh Water are really very low, do be honest we don’t know how they manage to provide water at such low costs, they aren’t perfect but to be honest we can’t complain, whenever there are problems we receive emails and text messages advising us of the problems and the estimated time it will take to repair the problem.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Sheila on 28/8/2024, 14:57:26, in reply to "bleeding the country dry, literally "

Brian we are in the Thames Water area and at the moment fighting to stop them building a reservoir in Steventon , a village a few miles away. It will be the size of eight football pitches and it is what is need for London, we are told. It will be the tax payer paying for it, as they have run out of cash. All given as a bonus to foreign investors.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Sheila on 28/8/2024, 15:02:10, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally "

Liz, I buy water for drinking, but use the tsp water, as long as it’s boiled first. The Thames is disgusting, no one can swim in it now. Privatisation was a big mistake.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Brian on 28/8/2024, 15:11:50, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally "

They are saying they cannot survive on less than the rise they want so the logical thing is let them go to the wall and bring them back into nationalisation.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Liz Dance on 28/8/2024, 16:19:40, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally "

I think that Thames were asking for something close to a 50% hike in prices, they have been told 20% is all that they can charge, I think they were hoping that the tax payer would step in.

A previous Chairman of Thames Water, on some exorbitant salary, used to live in a rather large house in a place called Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire, maybe he should have not taken such a high salary, but these CEO’s of large companies just don’t care as long as they are OK everyone else just doesn’t matter.

Sheila, we are so lucky where we live, our quality of water is really good, I recently had a water bill covering 6 months, we are metered, it was just a touch under £70, can anyone beat that? I would also point out I use a washing machine quite regularly, we have a dishwasher but we do hand washing of certain items of china, we don’t use the bath we use a power shower, my husband waters the garden when necessary, if required we will jet wash our patio, so all in all we have no complaints about Welsh Water, also our water meter, which for some silly reason, is not on our premises, it is located about a mile or so away as the crow flies, is read every 6 months, that is what I call Service with a capital S.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by John Shearer on 28/8/2024, 16:25:14, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally "

Had a water meter installed this year and it halved our bill, but afraid to use the hose like we used to.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally

Posted by Brian on 28/8/2024, 21:11:54, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally "

It was 59% Liz

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Brian

Posted by Liz Dance on 28/8/2024, 21:23:16, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally "

Wow that was quite a hike they were asking for Brian.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Brian

Posted by Don on 29/8/2024, 11:23:27, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Brian"

Another Tory project comes back to bite us in the bum.
I well remember the propaganda when water and other
amenities were up for sale and the might of the press was
geared up to sell us ‘the dream’ . Like all the privatisations it was said it would cut costs, be more efficient , more customer friendly etc. So now we have the absurdity of the French government , German companies and global insurance companies being in control of our failing public amenities. Incidentally , it was also touted that privatisation would introduce competition into the marketplace. Right- so now I’m dissatisfied with Thames water and I ask Welsh Water to supply me? No prizes for guessing the outcome. As a former Tory prime minister said these sales was akin to selling off the family silver.

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Don

Posted by Mac C on 29/8/2024, 11:50:35, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Brian"

Yes Don because at the time the Nationalised Water industry was in poor shape with our water supplies having the reputation in the 1980s of being the dirty man of Europe because of pollution of our rivers and poor-quality drinking water.
That isn't to condone or trivialise the current situation where the Companies like Thames are in a real mess and in the spotlight re dividends etc.
The problem is we have no way of knowing what the outcome of continued public ownership would have been for the industry and for us, its users, the costs. Nationalisation doesn't have a good track record for its efficiency and overall delivery.
A reet mess nevertheless!!

Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Don

Posted by John Shearer on 29/8/2024, 12:09:30, in reply to "Re: bleeding the country dry, literally - Don"

Well said Mac C, for me there were too many greedy investers wanting bigger dividends and managers on 6 figure salaries.

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[ Norman Dunn's 'Hebburn and our Neighbours Forum' ]

Rules! No party Politics,swearing,derogatory remarks or we delete. Anyone sharing our content on Face Book must credit 'Hebburn and our Neighbours'.