Andy Burnham came to power(上台执政) promising greater “public control” over the UK’s utilities(公用事业), such as water and energy. His reasons for doing so were to cut what is described as the “privatisation premium(私有化溢价)” paid for public services by consumers, and to improve their quality. The plight(困境) of the stricken(遭受重创的) Thames Water exemplifies(典型地说明) the scale of those problems.
安迪·伯纳姆上台时承诺对英国的水务、能源等公用事业加强“公共控制”。他这样做，是为了削减消费者为公共服务支付的所谓“私有化溢价”，并提升服务质量。陷入困境的泰晤士水务的窘境，恰恰说明了这些问题有多严重。
Yet two months on(两个月后), the government has failed to provide any real clarification(澄清) of what it means by “public control”, beyond stating that this may not necessarily mean public ownership of these companies. One option under discussion is to build a network of regional political bodies to hold water companies to account. But such a step would not, by itself, confer(赋予) the control needed to meet the prime minister’s objectives. Meanwhile, in a febrile(紧张的) environment for borrowers, uncertainty about “public control” is imposing(强加) real costs, both on those companies affected and the UK government.
然而两个月过去，政府除了表示“公共控制”未必意味着对这些公司实行公有制之外，始终未能真正澄清其含义。正在讨论的一个方案是建立区域政治机构网络，对水务公司进行问责。但仅凭这一步，并不能赋予实现首相目标所需的那种控制力。与此同时，在借款人情绪紧张的环境下，“公共控制”的不确定性正在给受影响的企业和英国政府带来实实在在的成本。
As a result of this uncertainty, bond issues(债券发行) by utility companies that would have financed investment are being deferred(推迟) and their costs are rising. Thames Water is in a state of suspended animation(假死状态), in part because no one knows what its ultimate proposed ownership and regulatory structure will be. With public ownership not having been ruled out, its potentially significant cost is another factor adding to pressures in UK government debt markets.(由于公有制并未被排除，其潜在的高昂成本成为加剧英国政府债务市场压力的又一因素。)
这种不确定性导致公用事业公司原本用于融资投资的债券发行被推迟，成本也在上升。泰晤士水务处于一种“假死”状态，部分原因是没人知道它最终拟定的所有权和监管结构会是什么样。由于公有制并未被排除，其潜在的高昂成本成为加剧英国政府债务市场压力的又一因素。