| ..... advises Adam Smith Institute. ... ..... Glas Cymru has performed well, especially according to the operating data collected by Ofwat. But there remains scope for further improvements, which the disciplines of private sector ownership are best placed to deliver. To that extent, Glas Cymru should be privatised ..... ... Thus spake Nigel Hawkins, Senior Fellow of the Adam Smith Institute. ... ... |
The Daley Dozen: Wednesday
3 hours ago
5 Comments:
"disciplines of private sector ownership"
This is the so-called principle-agent problem - how can those running a company be held accountable to its owners.
In the case of Glas Cymru I would suggest that the management of the company be subject to scutiny by parliament (in this case, the Welsh assembly), its employers and its consumers.
Privatisation, however, has been a disaster. Public assets sold off at knock-down prices to the friends and sponsors of the governing party (Tories, now New Labour). Prices skyrocketing as natural monopolies are milked for profit by colluding suppliers.
As a company limited by guarantee its purpose is not to maximise the dividend paid to shareholders but to meet its objectives of providing high quality water and sewerage services its customers.
I hope that Liberal Democrats like yourself will defend the public ownership of Glas Cymru.
Glas is scrutinised by quite a raft of qualified, non paid and non interest driven people ,check their website.
They meet several times a year and have regular updates and information.
That seems a good way to me.
Glas is a community owned enterprise. Its not publicaly owned.
Thanks for that Valleys Mam. I should perhaps have said " hope that Liberal Democrats like yourself will defend the community ownership of Glas Cymru."
Welsh Water is a good model for us in England. We're being told the way forward is to allow regional suppliers to compete with each other - which is as absurd as the situation with gas and electricity. I mean, the water is still going to come from the local supplier! And like gas and elecricity it will mean competition to rip off customers, not competition to lower prices.
Glas Cymru is a not–for–profit business, It's not a community owned enterprise.
Whilst Charlie, and many others, may prefer this business model for utilities, myself included, particularly with the monopoly / oligopolies, Glas Cymru could go to the markets. There is a 2 billion debt with 1.5 billion residual value, very marketable.
Typical Lib Dems - bending both ways.
Speaking as someone from within the water industry, Glas Cymru is not scrutinised anything like as much as it should be. It's all very well to have a fine looking committee occasionally meeting up to discuss water, but WAG should take a great deal more interest in the running of this company.
They are currently building up significantly more reserves than they are legally required to do (they are required to hold back reserves for times of calamity etc.) and there are many rumours as to what they intend to do with this cash.
Some say they are looking to bring many services back in house, as they have been fragmented so much that they are very hard to manage. I would personally welcome this as some of the so-called subbies have been lining their pockets and delivering a skeleton service. There is no comparison between the service offered prior to outsourcing to the private sector and I'm amazed that they have got away with it.
Post a Comment