Utilities are public services – and should not be run as businesses | Letters

Readers respond to an article by Will Hutton and Andy Haldane suggesting that they could be run for the public benefit Will Hutton and Andy Haldane advocate “turning [utilities] into public-benefit companies with a primary, constitutional objective of delivering high-quality serv

Readers respond to an article by Will Hutton and Andy Haldane suggesting that they could be run for the public benefit Will Hutton and Andy Haldane advocate “turning [utilities] into public-benefit companies with a primary, constitutional objective of delivering high-quality services, with profitability subordinate to that broader aim” ( Andy Burnham talks about ‘public control’ of the utilities but it’s a minefield. We can lead him through it, 25 September ). So still companies, but with a public interest rather than a profit motive.

This is still the wrong approach. Utilities should not be run as businesses but as essential public services. They do not function in isolation, and business models are unsuited to their functioning in the public interest.

They have social and environmental as well as economic responsibilities that have to be met. For 20 years, prior to the advent of the Scottish parliament, local government functioned well in Scotland within a framework of regions and districts. The regions had powers and responsibilities for the wide range of functions that had to be coordinated and operated strategically at the regional level.

They included water and sewerage. Continue reading...