The bills won’t go up

An austere regulatory settlement could have forced Thames Water, the UK's largest water utility, to tap shareholders for up to £1bn.  The company might have had to raise the money by suspending its dividend for the full five years of the Ofwat's price review, industry sources said.  However Ofwat’s decision was not as bad as had been feared, so shareholders are safe.  Consumers have not benefitted so much.  Water bills will not be as “good” as they might have been under the draft decision.  Thames Water is owned by Australia's Macquarie Bank and a group of pension funds.