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So yet again we pay the shareholders for doing nothing.
I've got a cracking idea: I'm gonna privatise gas, use the same infrastaucture that you all paid for, put different badges on the bills/slogans and despite it being the same old has from the same sources, I'll convince you there is genuine competition.
Well done subjects. Keep voting for these snakes
::sloclap::
MultiGrooves
NotThamesWater
Because privatisation.
Utilities and infrastructure (British Rail, Royal Mail, British Telecom etc...) have some very profitable bits (main line commuter bits, parcel post in big cities, city telephone networks), and some very, very expensive loss makers (off peak trains, telephone lines in the wilds of Northern Scotland, sending a letter to the Orkneys etc..)
Whichever government sells off the family silver, only the profitable stuff is wanted - any sensible purchaser would either not buy the unprofitable bits, or shut it down when they got hold of it.
Government is obliged (if not actually mandated) to ensure that the provinces & outlying services are still provided, so they sweeten the deal & pay subsidies / give tax breaks.