Thames Water - comment

In the King’s Speech, the newly elected labour government has signalled a series of new regulations which include making water company bosses face personal criminal liability for breaking laws on water quality, and new powers for regulator Ofwat to ban the payment of bonuses if environmental standards are not met. It now establishes a long-overdue code of conduct for water companies, allowing customers to summon board members and hold executives to account, and will introduce new powers to bring "automatic and severe" fines for transgressions. In addition, to the upcoming debt restructuring of Thames Water, it creates a mechanism by which fines going forward can be minimised for the company as well as its sector peers. A step in the right puddle…