Material cultures of water financialisation in England and Wales
Material cultures of water financialisation in England and Wales
复制标题
英格兰和威尔士水金融化的物质文化
DOI：
10.1080/13563467.2017.1259300
复制
发表时间：
2017
影响因子：
4.2
通讯作者：
Kate Bayliss
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kate Bayliss
自1989年英格兰和威尔士(EW)10家公司在伦敦证券交易所上市以来，这10家公司的所有权结构发生了重大变化。大多数公司现在都被摘牌，一些公司现在由金融投资者通过特殊目的工具拥有。在某些情况下，客户水费账单的收入流在未来几十年里已经证券化，不仅是为了筹集投资资金，也是为了向股东分配资金。与这些高杠杆公司结构相关的高融资成本会转嫁给客户。Ofwat监管机构的任务是保护消费者的利益，它在很大程度上是在一个价格控制体系内运作的，该体系旨在模仿一个竞争激烈的市场，而不存在金融投机。这意味着，监管不会干预围绕一些水务公司出现的金融化公司结构。金融化的这些表现形式被认为是“市场结果”。本文探讨了在EW的供水中发展起来的话语和叙事，以创造这样一种食利者转移被正常化的局面。运用拨备系统的方法，本文表明，水务金融的物质文化是沿着狭隘的、表面的消费者咨询构建起来的，而增加股东回报的广泛金融工程继续畅通无阻。
ABSTRACT The ownership structure of the water and sewerage sector has changed substantially in England and Wales (EW) since the 10 companies were listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1989. The majority of firms are now delisted and a number of companies are now owned by financial investors via special purpose vehicles. In some cases, revenue streams from customer water bills have become securitised for decades into the future not only to raise funds for investment, but also for finance distributions to shareholders. The high financing costs associated with these highly leveraged corporate structures are passed on to customers. The regulator, Ofwat, tasked with protecting the interests of consumers, operates largely within a system of price controls intended to mimic a competitive market in the absence of financial speculation. This means that regulation steers away from intervening in the financialised corporate structures that have emerged around some of the water utilities. These manifestations of financialisation are considered to be ‘market outcomes’. This paper explores the discourses and narratives that have developed in the provision of water in EW to create a situation where such rentier transfers are normalised. Using the systems of provision approach, the paper shows that the material culture of water finance has been constructed along narrow lines with superficial consumer consultation, while extensive financial engineering to increase shareholder returns continues unimpeded.