Letter: Water lot of money wasted...

Your correspondent John Mc Alear (Letters 12th July) highlighted the English water companies’ notorious history of paying bonuses and dividends while piling up the debt.

But he understated by nearly a thousand. Water companies have paid £83 billion to investors (not million as written) in today’s prices over the decades. At the same time, they have increased debt by £60 billion.

Much of the debt was borrowed when interest rates were low. That period has ended. The interest charges alone on the debt now accounts for 20-25% of the water bill we have to pay.

Locally, Southern Water was sold in 2021 to Macquarie, the Australian investment bank nicknamed the ‘vampire kangaroo’ (or the millionaire’s bank for the staff bonuses). It part-owned Thames Water from 2006 to 2017, leaving it effectively bankrupt and with the biggest shareholder recently writing down its value to zero. The UK Macquarie head who directed the Thames purchase and management was paid £10 million in the year he stepped down in 2021 to retire in Suffolk.

These are just the numbers. I lived in Australia for 20 years. Personally the thought of these young men, paid millions for innovative financial structures, controlling the drinking water in the New Forest is not a happy thought.

Peter Padfield

Holmsley