Talkback: Mixing water industry and City skills ; In his latest interview with a leading business figure Ian Courtney puts the spotlight on Nigel Annett, left, director of Welsh Water's owner, Glas Cymru FIRST Edition

• Published in: Western mail (Cardiff, Wales : 1956)
• Main Author: Courtney, Ian
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cardiff (UK) MGN Ltd 12.04.2003

A It was originally conceived in the mid-1990s soon after I joined the company. The idea involved a share buy-back with these shares being placed in a customer trust. It was probably ahead of its time though. There was always an element of contradiction between the desire of profit maximisation and public service provision inthe privately-owned water industry. Large parts of water and sewage services are a natural monopoly. I think there was always a possibility that this tension between the interests of customers and the interests of shareholders would cause problems, which it did with the windfall tax and the high returns now required by shareholders in the sector. However I must make it clear that before privatisation the industry was over-manned and pretty inefficient. It needed that period of private sector management to rid it of some of the practices that had been allowed to develop during public ownership. Glas Cymru was fortunate to attract the services of Terry Burns (former Permanent Secretary to the Treasury) from day one. Lord Burns was subsequently joined by Alison Carnwath and Geraint Talfan Davies. I think we managed to capture considerable emotional energy in Wales for this solution. For instance there is no doubt that the support we received from the National Assembly Government, especially during the period of sensitive negotiations in Whitehall, was critical.