Thames was having internal deliberations about cutting back on the environmental works as early as the end of 2021 and throughout 2022, the Guardian reported last December, but its formal notification to Ofwat was only made in August 2023.
Third, Thames somehow thought it appropriate to keep paying dividends – £37.5m in 2023 and £158m in 2024 – to its holding company even after it had told Ofwat it was not even close to hitting its binding targets.
In the meantime, here comes a subplot that in other circumstances would be the main event: Ofwat will investigate whether Thames has breached its obligations by failing to deliver environmental upgrades on time.
The first feature to note is the scale of Thames’s shortfall on delivering projects, which cover everything from removing phosphorus to upgrading sewage works.
If such a deal emerges in the summer, prepare to hear it hailed as yet another “fresh start”, the phrase overused by Thames’s changing cast of chief executives over the years.
