(by Karma Loveday) Water bills have risen — and will stay high for the foreseeable future — not only to cater for growth, a changing climate, higher standards and ageing assets, but also because it is no longer possible or legitimate to use natural services for nothing. That’s according to a report out last week from the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA) and The UK Water Report. Water in transition: rising costs and the decline of free environmental services

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat has published guidance for water companies on adhering to the new Fitness and Propriety Rule . It said it would consider each firm’s approach to the guidance when assessing compliance. The Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) has launched a manifesto ahead of the Holyrood elections in May, calling on the next Scottish government to develop a long-term Infrastructure 2050 strategy for Scotland , as part of a package of governance, inves

(by Verity Mitchell) South East Water (SEW), under the spotlight for its many infrastructure and customer service failures, has published an update on its plan to improve resilience. This follows the £22m fine recently announced by Ofwat for historic interruptions to supply between 2020 and 2023. South East Water had tried and failed to prevent the announcement with an injunction. Now it needs to restore regulatory and customer confidence. Its plan involves both engineering w

(by Verity Mitchell) London & Valley Water (L&VW) has published its latest proposals for recapitalising Thames Water. It stressed that these are non-binding and still under discussion between Ofwat, Thames Water itself and other regulators. L&VW has increased the amount of equity it proposes to provide to Thames Water to £3.35bn from £3.15bn. It would obtain up to £6.55bn of new debt: a mix of an initial £3.25bn, and a further committed facility of up to £3.3bn. It proposed a

(by Karma Loveday) Defra has published its first Strategic Policy Statements (SPSs) for the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England (NE), which include guidance on enacting the ‘constrained discretion’ advised by the Independent Water Commission. The statements are non-statutory but intended to complement statutory objectives and duties for each regulator. Principally, they set out the environment secretary’s expectations on how to deliver on both nature recovery and econ

(by Karma Loveday) On Friday, the High Court dismissed River Action’s application for judicial review against Ofwat for allegedly allowing some customers to pay twice for infrastructure improvements. River Action claimed Ofwat acted unlawfully when it implemented its policy that customers must not pay twice. The clean river campaigner said that in effect, some households would pay for infrastructure improvements to achieve environmental compliance, which should have been fund

(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat is consulting until 7 April on its decision to approve a code change that would explicitly oblige wholesalers to work with customer-appointed third parties on data logger matters. CPW161 explained: “Evidence included with the proposal indicates that when third parties [appointed by customers] approach wholesalers for permission to install data loggers, they have found that some wholesalers avoid working with third parties on data loggers and metering

(by Karma Loveday) Chief medical officer Sir Chris Whitty has accepted a commission to chair the Public Health Water Taskforce promised in the Water White Paper. Defra’s director general for strategy and water David Hill told the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee in a session on ‘Work of the department and its arms length bodies’ that the taskforce is “looking at the evidence base underpinning public health in relation to water, both bathing waters and drinking w

(by Verity Mitchell) Ofwat has published a report, Economic impact of water supply infrastructure investment , which argues that investment in major capital projects in water supply drives economic growth. Working with KPMG, Ofwat set out to prove how the proposed £50bn investment in strategic water resource options will provide economic benefit to England and Wales by quantifying the Gross Value Added (GVA) of water supply investment. Across the UK economy, GVA analysis prov

(by Karma Loveday) The utilities sector is facing a potential mass exodus of strategic communications talent across organisations — including suppliers, networks, regulators and trade bodies — at a time when effective public engagement, transparency and trust-building have never been more critical. That’s according to new research from specialist recruitment firm Murray McIntosh. Its Strategic Communications Report 2026 collated the results of a survey of 3,200+ professional