Ministers should hold their nerve as it is not yet clear what the regulator, Ofwat, will propose

The contagion merchants are out in force at Thames Water . If the country’s biggest water company goes under, runs the argument from assorted bondholders and City bankers, we will all pay a price. Other water companies will pay more for their capital, shoving the cost on to our bills eventually, and the burned bondholders will exact revenge when they’re asked to finance everything from electricity pylons to nuclear power stations. Should we be scared?

Before everybody works themselves into a panic, it would be better to wait until 12 June, the day when the water regulator, Ofwat, gives its first view on the business plans of English and Welsh companies for the next five-year period, and says what level of bill increases it will accept and what assumptions it has made about the cost of capital. That is the first point at which the “contagion” noise can be properly assessed.

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Soiled rivers and seas, and huge dividends for shareholders: this is how water companies massage their figures

So that’s how they do it. I’d been wondering how, when more sewage has been entering our rivers than ever before , some of the water companies have managed to improve the ratio of the sewage they treat v the sewage that pours untreated from their storm overflows into our rivers and the sea. Now we know.

It’s called “ flow trimming ”. Sounds innocuous, doesn’t it? What it means is that sewage is diverted into rivers and ditches upstream of the water treatment works. By reducing the amount of sewage entering the works, the companies can claim to be dealing responsibly with a higher proportion of it.

George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist. Join him for a Guardian Live online event on Wednesday 8 May at 8pm BST. He will be talking about his new book, The Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism. Book tickets here

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It is unlikely that the company’s owners will invest more or it will be fully nationalised, but its structure needs a rethink

Set your watches: Ofwat, the water regulator, has fixed the date for when it will publish its so-called “draft determination” – in other words, its first view on how far each water and wastewater company should be allowed to raise its bills in the five-year period that starts next spring.

Wednesday 12 June is the day when the outside world will be able to look at the assessment that caused the current owners of Thames to say a fortnight ago that Ofwat had made their company “uninvestable” and they wouldn’t be putting in another penny. Thames’s murky future may become slightly less murky at that point.

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While the company believes it has cash to last 15 months it will have to move fast to stave off insolvency

Thames Water has just six weeks to convince its regulator that it has a viable survival plan for its business, the Guardian can reveal.

While the company believes it has enough cash to survive for around 15 months, insiders and investors fear that it must move quickly to strike a deal with its watchdog to stave off insolvency.

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In latest twist to finger-pointing standoff, debt-stricken supplier’s parent company has defaulted on loan

The standoff between Thames Water, its shareholders, the government and the industry regulator is beginning to resemble the final scene of Reservoir Dogs. As Britain’s biggest water supplier creaks, the finger pointing over its financial woes is under way.

Its executives and shareholders believe the regulator Ofwat has been too stringent, making the company “uninvestible” . Regulators have not caved in to Thames’s claims that it needs to hike customer bills, pay out dividends and receive lower environmental fines to survive, perhaps viewing it as brinkmanship.

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Missed interim payment raises prospect of collapse or restructure of troubled company

• Business live – latest updates

The parent company of troubled Thames Water has told its creditors it has defaulted on its debt, raising the prospect that the company could collapse or face a significant restructure.

Kemble Water has missed an interest payment that was due on Tuesday and said it was requesting its lenders and bondholders to take no creditor action so as to “provide a stable platform while all options are explored” with its stakeholders.

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Suppliers increasingly opting to take customer to court to recover unpaid bills, Citizens Advice says

The number of households seeking help to deal with court action over their unpaid energy bills has doubled in the last year, according to Citizens Advice.

The charity said suppliers were increasingly opting to take their customers to court to recover their energy debts, which could ruin household finances for years.

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Fall to 14.4p comes after shareholders said they were unwilling to inject further funds

A bond issued by Thames Water’s parent company has fallen to record lows as the embattled company scrambles to secure its future, and the government signalled it is “ready to step in if necessary”.

The £400m bond, issued by the water supplier’s parent company, Kemble, has slumped to only 14.4p after shareholders indicated that they were unwilling to inject further funds into the heavily indebted utility company.

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After regulator resists 40% increase in bills, shareholders deny request for more cash – raising spectre of nationalisation

• Who will win in standoff between Thames’s investors and watchdog?

Thames Water appears to be on the road to nationalisation after its investors signalled they were unwilling to pump more money into the debt-laden utilities company, amid a standoff with the regulator and government over raising customer bills.

Britain’s biggest water supplier said on Thursday its shareholders had refused to provide £500m of emergency funding due this week to secure ithe company’s short-term cashflow.

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