Following the government’s decision to call a general election for 4 July, Ofwat has delayed its draft determinations, due to be published on 12 June, until 11 July. Read Ofwat’s Information Notice

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that Ofwat is poised to refuse most water companies’ requests to ratchet up consumer bills, with some getting as little as half of what they have asked for.

Water UK accuses Ofwat of creating “labyrinthine framework of intense complexity” to assess AMP8 Plans

From Water Briefing

Water UK has accused Ofwat of loading water companies with a huge amount of paperwork and creating a “labyrinthine framework of intense complexity” to assess the water companies’ AMP8 Business Plans.

In new written evidence submitted by Water UK to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee’s Follow-up Inquiry into Water Quality and Infrastructure. Water UK said:

“Ofwat has a difficult job in assessing these plans, but.. has made this more difficult for themselves by creating a labyrinthine framework of intense complexity. Their system required companies, in total, to produce nearly 1,000 different documents across their business plans, stretching to over 53,000 pages that will take more than 14 months just to review, before any real work can even start.”

According to Water UK, the body which represents all of the water and wastewater companies in the UK, since the submission of the AMP8 plans in October 2023, Ofwat has sent an average of 20 queries each working day, with a default deadline to respond of 48 hours.

Read more and access Water UK’s written evidence to the EAC inquiry.