Recommended Reading List #31

Customer complaints continue to flow into the offices of Thames Water at the rate of 100 per day, so readers may be interested to hear what Chief Executive David Owens has to say as he heads towards three years in the job.

When Australian investment bank Macquarie paid £8bn to German utility RWE in October 2006 leaks were gushing at a rate of 85om litres per day, but with a pipework replacement programme running at 300 miles per year this figure has dropped to 600m litres per day - so how much more can be done to improve the service?

The leveraged takeover means Thames Water has been particularly affected by the credit crunch and the company has courted controversy with regulator Ofwat by proposing to increase bills by 17% - nevertheless, in an interview Mr Owens says customers are "getting a great deal".