Fergal is right

I never thought I would write “I have to agree that on the issue of water regulation Fergal Sharkey is right”. The man who was one of the sounds of my teenage years is now doing even better work holding the water industries feet to the fire.

The new Labour government is trying to help and is now going to limit industry bonuses and even jail executives who hinder investigations into their activities. But as we know from the problems with corporate manslaughter charges, it is very, very difficult to prosecute an individual from a large organisation.

Buck passing, “accidentally deleted” email chains, dodgy “legal advice” and a couple of days in the dock saying “I don’t recall…that was not my decision, before my time, after my time, without the notes I can’t be sure” and you are free.

No, what is really needed is for OFWAT to start doing its job properly. Companies that cannot afford to invest in the water industry obviously cannot afford dividends, lots of commercial companies don’t pay dividends when times are tough, only water ones think that their rapacious owners need feeding even when the company is teetering on the edge.

Certainly no one has done anything to earn any bonuses recently, unless they get paid extra for ripping money out of a struggling company to pay greedy shareholders.

There need to be far more checks, more monitoring, more inspections, fewer excuses, no bill increases and very, very heavy fines.

All the powers to do just that exist, but the regulator has been captured and/or cowed by the companies it is supposed to be in charge of.

Privatised utilities are not cash cows, heavily capital intensive, regulated industries are not supposed to be anything but dull as ditch water, long term, safe as houses, low return but very reliable shares.

They need to be that again and they need to be hit with the big sticks that already exist until that happens.

Jonty’s Jottings

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By Jonty Bloom Media