New evidence submitted to the Competition and Markets Authority’s Price Review investigation is suggesting that Ofwat’s Gearing Outperformance Mechanism (GOM) is flawed and should be rejected, its approach to assessing financeability is inadequate, and the Final Determination appears to be imbalanced in favour of short-term bill reductions at the expense of consumer interests in the medium and long-term.
Southern Water has called into question Ofwat’s 2019 Price Review decisions, saying that its acceptance of the regulator’s final determination (FD) should not be interpreted as accepting that “Ofwat had, in all cases, arrived at the correct balance of costs, outcomes, and financeability.”
Reforms confirmed today by Ofwat could see the most highly geared water companies forced to share up to £230 million with customers over the period 2020-2025.
UK water companies are invited to join an upcoming webinar which will explore how the sector can take indirect potable reuse (IPR) from concept to full-scale operational reality.
James Sumsion, CEO of predictive water intelligence specialists Kohtari, says the water sector needs to take a giant leap forward, so that it can anticipate and act upon water quality issues - rather than merely react.
Ray Moulds, Sales Director at Flood Control International, takes a look at how automated sliding floodgates are supporting secondary containment at water and sewerage company sites.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”