Thames Water agrees funding into next year ahead of November deadline

The UK's biggest water company has agreed to a funding deal, allowing it to continue operating until autumn next year ahead of a November deadline.

Thames Water on Monday announced it had secured £600m to tide it over until autumn 2027 as it struggles with a substantial debt pile, missed pollution targets and regulatory and political pressures.

Granting of the sum, however, is contingent on having agreement on a series of conditions, including around a second restructuring plan.

Some of these conditions have not yet been met, it said.

The company, which serves 16 million customers, warned over the summer that funding was due to dry up by this month.

Also announced on Monday was an agreement giving the UK's biggest utility more time to pay back billions it owes to creditors, Thames Water said.

Instead of sums being due in March next year, the interim agreement has pushed that out to March 2028.

Thames Water's chief executive Chris Weston told Sky News in July that uncertainty over the Burnham government's plans for the water industry had increased the risk of a deal to bail out the company collapsing.

Thames Water is struggling under a £20bn debt pile and fighting to avoid being taken into effective state control.

A battle over its future has been under way, with environmentalists and MPs recommending a form of nationalisation while a group of the company's biggest creditors, including some of the biggest US hedge funds, mount a challenge for corporate control.

The creditors' takeover deal would involve cutting debt, writing off fines and reducing environmental commitments. Among those involved in the bid is former senior Labour minister Lord John Hutton.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has called for "greater public control" as he considers state ownership.

The creditors, called London and Valley Water, have offered the state a "golden share" to allow governmental input.

Creditors have been influential since 2024, after shareholders declared the company "uninvestable".

(c) Sky News 2026: Thames Water agrees funding into next year ahead of November deadline