Thames Water spent more on funding effort than it paid in fines - report

Thames Water spent at least £136m on attempts to secure emergency funding over 12 months, according to a leaked document that suggests costs outstripped the £130m the struggling utility paid in fines.

- Jasper Jolly John Collingridge

The law firms Linklaters and Akin Gump received £45m and £26m respectively during the financial year to March 2025, and another 10 firms were paid more than £1m, according to a document listing "atypical expenditure" for the year, seen by the Guardian. It is the first time the fees paid by Thames Water have been detailed publicly.

The water company scrambled in the last year to secure emergency funding to avoid temporary nationalisation as it struggled under a £20bn debt pile. That effort led to a court showdown in January and February to force losses on some debt holders in exchange for up to £3bn of rescue cash to see it through this year.

Thames is in talks with the regulator, Ofwat, over a takeover by creditors who hold much of its debt.

Lenders, ranging from big institutional investors such as Aberdeen, BlackRock, Invesco and M&G to US hedge funds including Elliott Management and Silver Point Capital, propose injecting £5.3bn in new debt and equity.

The creditors argue they will need relief from future fines – and possibly the reversal of past fines – to invest in Thames, which provides water and sewerage services to 16 million customers in London and south-east England.