Watch as Thames Water bosses questioned by MPs over financial viability

Watch as a parliamentary committee quizzes water industry bosses as concerns mount over the financial viability of Britain’s water suppliers.

On Monday (10 July), Thames Water averted a nationalisation threat with a £750m funding lifeline, but Britain’s biggest water firm warned around a further £2.5 billion in funding will be needed by 2030 as it struggles under a £14 billion debt pile.

It said the initial funding agreement to the end of March 2025 is a “major milestone”, although it is short of the firm’s £1 billion funding goal.

Thames Water is also under pressure to spend heavily to tackle sewage releases into UK waterways and seas.

The crisis funding deal came after weeks of speculation over its financial resilience, with the government having been on standby to place the firm into a special administration regime, which was the insolvency process used when energy supplier Bulb collapsed in 2021.