We DON’T need nationalising, insists Thames Water chief Cathryn Ross

Thames Water’s new boss insisted nationalisation is not on the cards even as it fell short of its plan to secure a £1billion lifeline.

Cathryn Ross said the troubled water supplier’s cash pile of £4.4billion was ‘absolutely enough’ to cover its costs for ‘this year, next year and into the future’ – despite it sitting on £14billion of debt.

Talk of Thames Water entering a so-called special administration has been ongoing since the unexpected departure of chief executive Sarah Bentley last month.

But her successor said the firm was nowhere near the ‘nuclear’ option of a taxpayer bailout.

‘We are absolutely not close to that trigger,’ Ross told the BBC.

The comments came as Thames Water, which provides water and sewage services to 15m customers in London and the south east of England, raised £750million from investors. 

This was less than the company’s desired £1billion. And bosses warned another £2.5billion of support will be required by 2030 as it battles to shore up its finances.

But chairman Ian Marchant hailed the £750million lifeline as the largest equity support package ever seen in the UK water sector’.

Shareholders have only agreed to cough up the cash should certain conditions be met, including ‘the preparation of a business plan that underpins a more focused turnaround’.

Thames Water, which is owned by a consortium of pension groups and foreign funds, has been criticised over the past year for polluting rivers and failing to fix leaky pipes.

Last week the company was fined £3.3million for pumping millions of litres of sewage into East Sussex waterways in 2017. 

But there has also been mounting concern over its finances, particularly a £14billion debt mountain that has built up while the company paid investors huge dividends and handed bosses lucrative salaries.

Ross, who has drawn scrutiny for previous experience running regulator Ofwat, admitted the debt figure was a ‘large sum’.

Monopoly: Thames Water provides water and sewage services to 15m customers in London and the south east of England

But she said the company had reached its ‘lowest level of indebtedness’ in a decade.

Results published alongside yesterday’s fundraising revealed Thames Water revenues rose 4 per cent to £2.3billion last year. 

But losses hit £82.6million due to higher operating costs. Rising interest rates have led to it paying out greater financing charges on its debt, which has coincided with an urgent need to invest in infrastructure.

Ross and co-chief executive Alastair Cochran said it was an ‘extremely challenging year’. They said in a statement: ‘Our network came under pressure from record temperatures, a drought and a freeze/thaw event.

‘At the same time, economic factors also impacted our financial results with high inflation driven by a surge in energy and chemical prices. In short, our performance was not as we wanted it to be. Despite this, we are in a robust financial position.’

The Government has been monitoring the situation over the past month, with officials waiting on stand-by in case the company collapsed.