Tell the Water Commission — Take Water into Public Ownership!

You have just DAYS to respond to what Ministers are calling the “largest review of the water sector since privatisation.”

But here’s the catch: Ministers have BANNED the commission from looking at public ownership. They say it would cost too much.

New research shows even in the government’s most expensive scenario for shareholder compensation, the public would save £3 BILLION a year under public ownership.

Email the commission before it closes on Wednesday to demand they include public ownership.

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<div>Dear Chair of the Independent Water Commission — Sir Jon Cunliffe,</div><div> </div><div>I am writing to respond as an individual to your Call For Evidence, before it closes on April 23rd, in favour of reforming water companies into some form of public ownership. [1]</div><div> </div><div>Your fifth key area is on water company ownership models. [2] However, ministers have established your Commission so that “nationalisation is out of scope.” [3]</div><div> </div><div><strong>New research released in March 2025, suggests that public ownership would be a more financially efficient way to deliver our water system, protecting households and the environment.</strong> [4]</div><div> </div><div>In short, it shows why you, and the government, should not exclude public ownership from your reforms of the water sector.</div><div> </div><div><strong>The University of Greenwich report finds that public ownership would save £3-5 billion a year</strong>, depending on the level of compensation to existing shareholders and creditors.</div><div> </div><div>The research assumes that Ofwat’s PR24 enhancement expenditure of £44 billion remains, and shows that<strong> bills could be £100-160 lower on average, enhanced investment could be increased by 30-60 per cent, or the savings could be split between investment and bills.</strong></div><div> </div><div>Even in the government’s assumed scenario of a £99 billion cost to buy the water firms at so-called enterprise value (estimated from their Regulatory Capital Value of the firms) households would be £3 billion better off. [5]</div><div> </div><div>However, this approach from the government is based on a 2018 report by the Social Market Foundation, paid for by four privatised water companies and discredited as “economically illiterate” by leading economics researcher Prof. Dieter Helm. [6]</div><div> </div><div>The savings from nationalisation are mostly from the reduced costs of capital. <strong>In Scotland, the publicly owned water firm spends 8 per cent of its revenue on financial costs, compared to an average in England and Wales of 35 per cent.</strong></div><div> </div><div>Given these huge efficiencies, it is no wonder that 90 per cent of the world runs water in public ownership. [7]</div><div> </div><div>Members of the public like me understand this. <strong>Polls show that 82 per cent of us want water in public hands</strong>. [8]</div><div> </div><div>To exclude considering all forms of public ownership under the description “nationalisation” is laughable. Public ownership takes many forms, the most common of which is regional water authorities or integration into existing councils, not national state ownership.</div><div> </div><div>I support We Own It’s proposed model of regional ownership, with a company board bringing in the expertise and views of representatives from households, workers, environmental groups, and local authorities. [9] I call for democratic public ownership.</div><div> </div><div>It is a disgrace. Public opinion and academic research is being explicitly ignored by the Commission and by the government.</div><div> </div><div><strong>I call on you to include the University of Greenwich findings in your report and note my support for public ownership. </strong>Public ownership should not be out of scope in the largest review of the water industry since privatisation.</div><div> </div><div>Here is a list of sources for the points I made above:</div><ol><li><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/independent-commission-for-water-call-for-evidence">https://www.gov.uk/government/calls-for-evidence/independent-commission-for-water-call-for-evidence</a></li><li><a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/public-invited-to-have-say-on-water-sector-fit-for-the-future">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/public-invited-to-have-say-on-water-sector-fit-for-the-future</a></li><li>p. 224, Call For Evidence - Independent Commission on the Water Sector Regulatory System</li><li><a href="https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/50096/">https://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/50096/</a></li><li><a href="https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-09-06/HL845">https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-09-06/HL845</a></li><li><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/29/labour-water-industry-analysis-argue-against-nationalisation">https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/sep/29/labour-water-industry-analysis-argue-against-nationalisation</a></li><li><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146499340700800108">https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/146499340700800108</a></li><li><a href="https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50098-support-for-nationalising-utilities-and-public-transport-has-grown-significantly-in-last-seven-years">https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/50098-support-for-nationalising-utilities-and-public-transport-has-grown-significantly-in-last-seven-years</a></li><li><a href="https://weownit.org.uk/blog/what-could-thttps://weownit.org.uk/blog/what-could-thames-water-look-public-ownershiphames-water-look-public-ownership">https://weownit.org.uk/blog/what-could-thames-water-look-public-ownership</a></li></ol><div> </div>

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