Thames Water's new chair has said nationalisation is not the right way forward despite the regulator warning the company has "deep-rooted" problems.
Sir Adrian Montague said he understood customer "frustration" over the UK's largest water firm's poor performance.
However, he said the best way to resolve it was keeping the company under private ownership.
Thames Water has faced criticism over sewage discharges and leaks and is struggling under £14 billion (€16.4 billion) debts.
In June, there had been fears that the company could collapse and the government said it was ready to take it over. Since then, Thames Water has secured a £750 million (€879 million) cash injection from its shareholders.
Appearing before MPs, Sir Adrian said "public ownership seems to be the answer to many questions, I think when you conduct a real evaluation, I think private ownership is still the way forward".
He added: "I can understand frustration of customers who want to see improvements, we would love to be able to deliver all those improvements overnight but it will take time."
Thames Water ‘should not be nationalised’, says new chairman
