Water is one of the few industries where a glut of the principal raw material can be disastrous. We all want a dependable water supply, but we also want our water companies to cope with floods and, as The Times Clean It Up campaign demands, civilised sewage disposal. As well as making the industry uniquely dependent on the weather, the environmental demands are increasingly difficult to reconcile with pleasing shareholders.
So when Severn Trent and United Utilities published their latest trading updates, the financial outlook was almost an afterthought. United began by saying it had “continued to deliver strong operating performance, resulting in no material changes to 2023-24 financial guidance”, before getting on to how it was supporting customers and improving service. Severn prioritised its
