Ahead of the meeting, the GMB national officer Gary Carter said he would “demand there are no cuts to work force numbers – or terms and conditions”. He said: “Any cost-cutting measures being considered by Thames will only be a sticking plaster and will not address the root cause of the company’s problems – a lack of investment by shareholders stretching back decades.”

Well, if the shareholders are going to do that, it’s going to have to ultimately come out of higher water fees. What is Thames Water charging today?

googles

thameswater.co.uk/…/charges-scheme-2021-22.pdf

It looks like there’s a small (~20 pound) fixed annual fee per household to pay for infrastructure. The variable cost appears to be 149.62 pence per cubic meter.

I wonder how that compares to over here in the States?

The exchange rate is about 1.26 USD = 1 GBP. A cubic meter of water is 264 gallons. So that’s about $0.00714/gal in variable costs.

googles

worldpopulationreview.com/…/water-prices-by-state

The water portion of a utility bill is typically smaller than electricity, gas, cable, and internet, with exceptions. Using about 100 gallons per person per day, an average U.S. family of four paid about $72.93 for water every month in 2019.

According to data, the least expensive cost of water in any state is in Wisconsin and Vermont, with average water costs at $18. West Virginia has the most expensive water costs of any state at $91 per month, followed by California at $77.

Okay, so 30 days in a month, 400 gallons, 12,000 gallons/month/household…so even discounting their small fixed fee, Thames Water customers are paying the equivalent of about $85/month, which is higher than 49 out of 50 US states.