to the March statutory deadline) our current view is that taking into account the scope of issues we plan to prioritise and deprioritise set out in this document, mid- December is an appropriate target for the final report. We will publish a summary of the final report when it is issued and publish a non-sensitive version of the full report a few weeks later. Background 18. We last carried out water redeterminations for four companies in 2019-20, during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The wider context has since changed considerably. 19. These redeterminations are taking place during a period of extensive debate and potential change for the water sector and how it is regulated.
It has been widely recognised that there are significant challenges from climate change, population growth, the crisis in nature and the need to deliver economic growth. This combines with the material increase in market interest rates compared with recent price reviews. Significant investment is needed to meet these challenges, placing pressure on water company resilience and affordability for customers. In light of this, the future regulatory structure for water has been/is under review by a number of bodies including in particular the Independent Commission on the Water Sector Regulatory System ( Independent Water Commission ), chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe.
9 The aim is for the recommendations of the Independent Water Commission review to inform a longer-term reset of the sector, with possible implications for later price controls – not PR24. Our redeterminations take place within the existing regulatory framework and apply to the current five-year period from 2025-2030. 20. The five Disputing Companies serve over 7 million household and business customers and have a combined annual revenue of around Ј4 billion. 10 The redeterminations are highly complex and involve reassessing decisions that took Ofwat more than four years to reach.
Ofwat drew on a wide range of expertise, including financial, economic and engineering expertise and consulted extensively before reaching its PR24 Final Determinations (December 2024) ( PR24 FD ). While we have appointed engineering advisers to assist us, it is not possible for us to replicate the full extent of Ofwat’s exercise in the redetermination process. 21. Given the importance of the outcome of the redeterminations for key issues such as customer bills and infrastructure investment, our aim is to reach a decision as 9 Independent Commission on the Water Sector Regulatory System:
Terms of reference ; National Audit Office report on Regulating for investment and outcomes in the water sector , 25 April 2025; and the Dan Corry review Delivering economic growth and nature recovery: and independent review of Defra’s regulatory landscape , 2 April 2025. 10 Companies often refer to a population number for their area as opposed to the number of paying customers (ie households and businesses). The Disputing Companies serve 27% of customers (household and business) and account for 29% of revenue in England and Wales. 7