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Article: Power over the serfs - and all under one roof
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- September 8, 1995
CopyrightCopyright 1995 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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We have been here before. Some years ago Welsh Water bought a
big shareholding in Swalec with the eventual intention of merging
the two companies. Outside John Elsed Jones, then chairman of Welsh
Water, nobody believed it feasible and the position was unwound.
Now North West Water wants to acquire Norweb, whose area of
operation largely mirrors that of North West. The parallels go
beyond the obvious one of water and electricity companies with
congruent geographical monopolies coming together.
Like Mr Jones before him, Sir Desmond Pitcher, chairman of North
West and the self-proclaimed Mr Big of the region, dreams of
creating a gigantic, regionally- based corporate power base from
which to ...