The Board of Portsmouth Water has published its draft Wholesale tariffs for 2018/19.

In its Letter of Assurance to Ofwat, the Board says it has also prepared draft Retail tariffs for 2018/19, although these have not been published.

The letter provides the assurance that the Board is required to provide confirming  that the company has complied with its legal obligations (including competition law) relating to the charges set out in the charges schemes.

It also specifically confirms that the charges result in compliance with the revenue cap for wholesale and that the costs associated with Open Water are appropriately recovered from the water company’s non-household customer base only.

As a consequence of the wholesale tariffs the total bill differential for customers using the same volume of water but charged on a different basis, i.e. measured and unmeasured, is around £30 to which reflects the additional cost incurred in metering.

The Board used Frontier Economics to provide external assurance – the consultancy undertook a short review of the tariffs and has confirmed that Portsmouth Water’s proposal is compliant.

Portsmouth Water has also assessed the effects the new charges have on customers’ bills for a range of different customer types. Over 30 groups of customer have been reviewed, including the average in a class and an upper and lower customer in the class.

The Board confirmed that no group of customers will experience a change in bills greater than 5% as a result of the proposed wholesale price changes.

Portsmouth Water will now consult with the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) and other stakeholders, including retailers, ahead of publishing its Final Charges Schemes in January 2018.

Click here to download the Draft Wholesale Tariffs 2018/19