Thames muddies the water: Utility giant is fighting a rising tide of debt and sewage, says ALEX BRUMMER

See more This is Money on Google - save us as a Preferred Source Updated: 17:03 EDT, 10 August 2026 The very mention of Thames Water – as Britain battles through summer drought, and seaside resorts and wild swimming sites are infested with E. coli – provokes an apoplectic reaction.Add to this volatile mix the revelation that finance director Steve Buck, recruited in 2025, received a £1million signing-on fee, and anger has no bounds.Yet we shouldn’t doubt the importance to 16m Thames customers of financially savvy management. It has been in the emergency ward since 2023 when then-chief executive Sarah Bentley abruptly stepped down as the nation’s biggest water supplier struggled against a rising tide of debt and faeces.Both current chief executive Chris Weston and chairman and fixer Adrian Montague are engaged in a never-ending struggle to keep the enterprise afloat.The promise of a rescue by American private equity giant KKR bit the dust after a New York-based investment committee decided political risks were too great. Debt deal: A consortium proposes to write off £9.6bn of Thames Water's £20bn debt pile if the Government desist from regulatory action over sewage discharges and investment delaysThis left Weston and Montague seeking to sell a complex rescue plan to regulators and the Government. A consortium of creditors, known as London & Valley Water, proposes to write off £9.6billion of the £20billion debt pile.They would put in £3.35billion of fresh equity as well as £6.25billion in funding. In exchange they want the Government to desist from regulatory action over sewage discharges and investment delays.It is into this quagmire that Buck has entered. As a former finance director at Pennon, the firm responsible for a 2024 cryptosporidium outbreak in Devon, he reunites with Weston, with whom he worked at British Gas owner Centrica. Given the scale of the challenge at Thames, his £1m signing-on fee is small change.Prime Minister Andy Burnham has made no secret of his desire for more community or public control over water, with the possibility of taking a golden share in any reorganisation. Creditors and the Government both have an interest in avoiding a government-imposed Special Administration Regime (SAR).Creditors such as ruthless debt players Elliott, Apollo and Silver Point are desperate to avoid a brutal haircut under which their exposures are wiped out. The Treasury will be fearful of an SAR under which the state steps in as temporary custodian.If Thames cannot be swiftly shifted, it will add a vast new liability to an overloaded government balance sheet.Given access to the books, as KKR was allowed, there are thought to be other buyers ready to step in. Among them is Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings, owner of Northumbrian Water.Opponents of CK focus on a Beijing connection as a political obstacle. That has not stopped it from controlling Britain’s biggest container port at Felixstowe or consumer assets such as Superdrug. It certainly has the skills and resources.Caveat emptorYou might ask what the departure of John Lewis store boss Peter Ruis has to do with Burnham’s barely disguised attack on the integrity of business. Ruis’ contribution, in his three-year incumbency, was to restore the partnership-owned group’s ‘never knowingly undersold’ mantra.Price matching by John Lewis and similar initiatives by supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Asda aim at ensuring their outlets remain competitive with online firms and no-frills retailers such as Aldi.The notion that shopping groups in the UK are involved in a giant conspiracy to cheat consumers by offering misleading product discounts is for the birds.Everyone with access to the internet can check the reality of deals from the price of back-to-school shirts to wide-screen TVs in nanoseconds.There has never been more transparency in the history of shopping.Paris clubWe don’t know very much about Revolut’s French banking licence, but it marks a big step-up from its present EU authorisation from Lithuania. Revolut, which has a UK licence, plans to make Paris its ‘Western European HQ’.The licence is a fillip for the highly valued UK online bank. But one should never underestimate the ability of Brussels bureaucracy to stifle innovation.DIY INVESTING PLATFORMSAJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.Compare the best investing account for you