{"id":15784,"date":"2018-07-24T12:04:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-24T11:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15784"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:35","slug":"hosepipe-ban-united-utilties-shareholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15784","title":{"rendered":"‘Reservoir of corporate greed’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A privateer water firm that loses over 400m litres every day because of leaky pipes will hand nearly \u00c2\u0141181m to shareholders just two days before it imposes a hosepipe ban.<\/p>\n

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United Utilities<\/a> is set to award \u00c2\u0141181m in shareholder dividends on August 3 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the largest payout in a decade \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite widespread outrage at underinvestment in its network that has contributed to a hosepipe ban being slapped on 7m homes in north west England.<\/p>\n

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The firm, which insists a lack of rainfall is responsible for its shrinking reservoirs and says it delivers a \u00e2\u20ac\u015brange of benefits and long-term values for customers, the environment and shareholders\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, is the only water company in England and Wales to ban hosepipes.<\/p>\n

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However it was recently revealed that United Utilities loses 133 litres of water<\/a> per property per day \u00e2\u20ac\u201c just one litre less than the region\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s average use of 132 litres per person per day.<\/p>\n

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United Utilities has the second worst record of all the UK water firms for leakage, even though boss Steve Mogford pocketing \u00c2\u01412.3m in 2017.<\/p>\n

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Labour MP for Oldham West and Royton Jim McMahon said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just about water leaking out but money which should be used to maintain the water network leaking out as quickly.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe first and last responsibility of the water company should be about maintaining the supply, and it has failed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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Unite national officer for energy and utilities<\/a> Peter McIntosh said the situation was \u00e2\u20ac\u015boutrageous\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members at United Utilities are suffering because the company has failed to invest in the network and there isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t enough staff to deal with the leaks.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s outrageous that customers and staff are having to pay the price for United Utilities\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 mistakes while its shareholders and directors continue to rake in obscene amounts of cash.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

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He added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe reservoir of corporate greed in the water industry needs to be drained as a matter of urgency and we believe that (the water regulator) Ofwat needs to be much tougher on this issue.<\/p>\n

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\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWater is essential for the maintenance of life and should not be used as a pool for private profit. It was a misguided and flawed right-wing ideology that saw the water industry privatised<\/a> under Margaret Thatcher.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A privateer water firm that loses over 400m litres every day because of leaky pipes will hand nearly \u00c2\u0141181m to shareholders just two days before it imposes a hosepipe ban.   United Utilities is set to award \u00c2\u0141181m in shareholder dividends on August 3 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the largest payout in a decade \u00e2\u20ac\u201c despite widespread outrage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[972,971,252,186],"wps_subtitle":"Hosepipe ban: United Utilities hands \u00c2\u0141181m to shareholders","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15784"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15784"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26028,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15784\/revisions\/26028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}