There has been widespread reporting in recent days on Thames Water and its financial position.

This is a matter for the company, which has reiterated that it is working constructively with its shareholders and continues to maintain a strong liquidity position, including £4.4 billion of cash and committed funding, as at 31 March 2023.

The economic regular Ofwat has noted that the sector continues to attract international capital, with an additional equity injection of around £2bn since 2020.

Within government we always prepare for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries, including water, and remain in close contact with Ofwat.

A Government spokesperson said: 

This is a matter for the company and its shareholders.

“We prepare for a range of scenarios across our regulated industries - including water - as any responsible government would.

“The sector as a whole is financially resilient. Ofwat continues to monitor the financial position of all the key water and wastewater companies.

An Ofwat spokesperson said:

Over the last day or so, there has been a lot of commentary about financial resilience in the water sector with considerable focus on Thames Water in particular.

We have been clear that Thames Water has significant issues to address – their environmental record and leakage performance, for example, are poor. Alongside the turnaround of their operational performance, they need to improve their financial resilience too.

But that is all in the context of a company that has strong liquidity – it recently received an additional £500 million from shareholders and has £4.4bn of cash and committed funding.

Overall, the sector is continuing to attract international capital and is especially attractive to long term investors such as pension funds. Indeed, there has been an additional equity injection of around £2bn since 2020, with companies acting to strengthen their financial position.

Ofwat will continue to keep companies' financial resilience under close scrutiny and work with companies to ensure they take action to ensure that they have the financial backing to deliver for customers and the environment.