Last year’s incident in Brixham, south Devon, cost it about £21 million, pushing it deeper into an annual loss, it said.

“The important thing for now is what we can do, and we can do now more than we’ve been able to do before, because of an extra £5 billion the Chancellor has put in to the defence budget this year and ...

The utility said it would take forward discussions with ‘certain senior creditors’ on an alternative plan to stabilise its finances.