Thames Water creditors to vote on £2.4bn loan — The Guardian
In the United Kingdom, Thames Water’s creditors are set to vote on granting the company an emergency £2.4bn loan. The funds are needed by the water supplier, which has accumulated substantial debts and said it could run out of money in late 2026 or early 2027.
As The Guardian reports, the London & Valley Water creditors’ consortium will consider increasing Thames Water’s financing facility to £5.4bn. This should allow the company to continue operating until autumn 2027 while it seeks a long-term debt restructuring solution.
Loan at 9.75%
Last year, Class A creditors, including BlackRock, Elliott Management and Silver Point Capital, already provided Thames Water with a £3bn loan at 9.75% annual interest. The company said it had used £2.65bn of that amount.
Thames Water serves 16 million customers in London and the Thames Valley. Its debt stands at around £20bn. In 2024, shareholders withdrew further support for the company, after which it effectively came under the control of creditors seeking to avoid its bankruptcy.
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Dispute over consumer bills
The public group We Own It said that under terms similar to the previous loan, interest on the new loan could add about £40 to each household’s bills. If the entire loan amount were included in bills, this would amount to £454 per household, according to the organisation’s calculations.
London & Valley Water denied that the cost of financing Thames Water’s rescue would be passed on to consumers. A Thames Water representative also said that tariffs are set by the Ofwat regulator and that additional funding from creditors would not create new costs for households.
Some politicians and environmental activists are calling for the company to be placed into special administration — a form of temporary state control while a new buyer is sought. Oxford University economist Dieter Helm believes that new loans are merely postponing such a scenario.
