The House of Lords Committee on Regulators today criticised Ofwat for failing to match the success of other economic regulators in introducing competition to their market. The Committee's report UK Economic Regulators concludes that UK economic regulators perform well in promoting competition and competitiveness and argues that there is no need to re-write the legislation that established them, but stresses that Ofwat (the economic regulator for the water and sewerage industry in England and Wales) needs to do more to facilitate competition in the water market.

Ofwat has published its response on the River Basin Planning Guidance (Volume 2) consultation documents issued by Defra with regard to implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Ofwat has published a position paper on water charges and company profits.

Ofwat has set out how customers will be charged for 2008-09. The average increase in prices for 2008-09 is 5.8%, which includes inflation of 4.3%.

Ofwat has started its consultation on the information it intends to collect from the water companies to support the 2009 price review.

Ofwat has written to the Government to set out its views on implementation options for the transfer of private sewers and lateral drains into the ownership of water and sewerage companies.

Ofwat has written to the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) in response to its current consultation on planning for a sustainable future.

Ofwat has responded to the Environment Agency’s consultation on Significant Water Management Issues (SWMI) relating to the Water Framework Directive.

Ofwat gave a formal City Briefing yesterday with presentations from Philip Fletcher, Chairman  of Ofwat and Regina Finn, Chief Executive.

The five year mindset developed by the AMP framework needs to be changed for a much longer cycle, according to George Day, OFWAT’s head of capital maintenance.