Thames Water vans are parked on a road as repair and maintenance work takes place, in London April 3, 2024. — AFP picLONDON, April 6 — Thames Water’s parent company has defaulted on a payment, deepening the crisis at the UK’s largest water supplier, which is heavily indebted and under fire for failing to stop sewage discharges into the nation’s waterways.
Kemble Water Finance said in a statement today that “as envisaged” payments on a debt of £400 million due on April 2 had “not been paid”.The firm said it had begun to approach creditors and bondholders to “request that they take no creditor action so as to provide a stable platform while all options are explored with all key stakeholders”.
Spokespeople for Kemble and Thames Water contacted by AFP declined to elaborate further on the consequences for the beleaguered supplier.The cash injection it had been seeking represented most of a £750-million funding lifeline agreed with investors in July to stay afloat. Ofwat had reportedly refused to bow to Thames Water’s demands for concessions, which it said included a 40-per cent jump in water bills that would worsen the country’s cost-of-living crisis.