Water Company Business Plans
The UK water industry is undergoing a significant review as part of Price Review 2024 (PR24). This five-year process, led by Ofwat, the water sector regulator, aims to set the financial framework for water companies in England and Wales from 2025 to 2030. A key component of the review involves each water company developing a detailed business plan outlining their investment priorities, customer service commitments, and financial performance targets.
Ofwat has established a comprehensive methodology for PR24 to guide water companies and ensure accountability. This framework outlines the regulator's expectations for the industry, including how it will drive companies to prioritise customer satisfaction and environmental stewardship. By setting ambitious yet achievable performance targets, Ofwat aims to encourage continuous improvement and innovation. These targets are outlined in common performance commitments that apply to all water companies, as summarised in the table below.
Supporting Water Network Performance
The following table expands on the AMP 8 Performance Commitments of the Water Companies Business plans, as required by Ofwat. The Supply Interruptions is a measure of failure in operating pressures for customers and relates to both the downstream local mains and the upstream trunk / supply network disruptions. The Compliance Risk and Water Quality customer contacts are measures of treated water compliance in the operations of the water network as experienced by customers.
Leakage is an extensive measure encompassing customer supply pipes, distribution mains and trunk mains. Each has different methods of assessment, operational activities and reporting processes. Per capita consumption and Business Demand are measures for reducing water use. Water companies are investing into smart meters as part of the drive to accountability and reduction in water use. The availability of dynamic consumption data will enable the estimation of dynamic leakage and dynamic demand prediction. Our tactical smart meter data solutions offer the tools and insights water companies need to optimise their operations and reduce water loss.
The Repairs to mains measure is related to the reactive bursts repair activities and it will be important for them to be effective in reducing leakage. The Unplanned outages relate to water production at treatment plants. They impact the supply to the network, and it will be important to have early alerts to potential problems. Customer experience satisfaction surveys relate to the satisfactory and efficient management of the network supply and distribution as reflected in the above measures. It will be important to apply hydraulic models, as operational models for identifying and addressing the performance measures using software such as our Netbase Hydraulic Modelling application.
Learn More About How Crowder Consulting can support the AMP 8 Performance Commitments
At Crowder, we combine our Water Network expertise and services with the Netbase Platform solutions, to give confidence in achieving the desired outcomes. Please get in touch with our team to discuss your requirements.
