The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has today published its final determination of what Scottish Water can charge for water and sewerage services for the period 2015-21.

Under the determination, household customers’ bills will increase below the rate of inflation over the six-year regulatory control period. Typical household bills will increase by £5 or less each year. For business customers, Scottish Water will be permitted to increase its wholesale charges at no more than CPI-0.3% per year over the period 2015-21.

WICS Chief Executive Alan Sutherland said:

“We believe that our final determination is good for customers; good for our environment in Scotland; and good for the Scottish economy. It will allow Scottish Water to build on what it has achieved over the past five years while ensuring that customers receive value for money and the further improvements in service they want.”

“Price increases that are capped at less than the level of inflation over the period will provide certainty in difficult economic times while ensuring that Scottish Water has the resources to deliver the objectives set by the Scottish Ministers for the industry.”

The review process saw the introduction of a number of regulatory innovations. Particularly important was the extensive involvement of the Customer Forum, which represented the interests of consumers throughout the process. Alan Sutherland added:

“For the first time, the Strategic Review process included customers directly and incorporated a negotiated settlement between the Customer Forum and Scottish Water. We believe that this approach has led to a better deal for customers. The Commission would like to thank the Customer Forum and other key stakeholders for their positive engagement in this process.”

The final determination also sets out Scottish Water’s targets for performance, with priority given to external sewer flooding, visible leakage, reduction in carbon emissions, managing responses to extreme weather events, and minimising escalated or upheld complaints to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman.

Scottish Water is also expected to improve its service performance over the regulatory period so that it:

• maintains its overall performance assessment (OPA) score within a target range of 380 to 400 points throughout the period;
• ranks among the leading UK water companies on the new Customer Experience Measure to be introduced by March 2015; and
• is among the leading UK utilities for customer satisfaction.

Scottish Water will now consider its response to the Commission’s proposals. It has the right to request that the Commission refer this final determination to the Competition and Markets Aunthority within 60 days of this publication. If Scottish Water decides to accept this final determination, it will prepare a delivery plan for the Scottish Government.

Click here to read the Final Determination