Southern Finery

The superior efficiency of privatised public utilities was confirmed yet again today as the regulator for the water supply racket fined Southern Water (not to be confused with Thames Water) something over twenty million pounds. Southern Water "supplied false information on customer service data that suggested it was performing better than was actually the case" over a period of at least five years, during which "many customers were overcharged". The fine reflects an interesting set of priorities, comprising a penalty of one tenth of one per cent of turnover for failing to meet guaranteed levels of service to customers, plus thirty-five times as much for misleading the regulator.

The group of investors who bought Southern Water last October have "agreed to absorb the fine themselves rather than passing it onto customers through higher bills"; heaven forfend that they should be compelled to absorb the fine themselves or that - less efficient still - the sum should be taken out of the hide of whoever was managing the company while the deception was going on, and spent on repairing a few pipes.