(by Verity Mitchell) Scottish Water’s Annual Report for 2025-2026 recorded progress on project milestones and the company's highest-ever investment of £1.3bn. £821m was in the regulated business, up from £778m. Group revenue increased to £2,360m, up 13%. The regulated water segment saw increased revenues to £1,737.8m. The group operating surplus increased by 57% to £363m, driven by the regulated business which contributed £343.9m, up from £213.8m in the prior year. The group

(by Karma Loveday) South West Water has become the latest company to introduce an area-wide hosepipe ban. From Saturday, the restriction applied to all customers in Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and parts of Dorset and Somerset. The company also applied for a drought permit on 20 July. The House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee has found that Pet Parasite Medications (PPMs) are potentially causing widespread damage to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

(by Karma Loveday) Large customer representative the Major Energy Users’ Council (MEUC) has called on wholesalers, retailers and the wider water market to use functional statements rather than labels in smart water meter rollout communications. In a new paper, the MEUC’s Smart Water Meter Rollout Strategy Group highlighted that terms such as ‘smart,’ ‘AMR’ and ‘logger’ are being defined inconsistently – both within the water sector and between the energy and water sectors. Fo

(by Karma Loveday) The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) has reported raising the bar for non-household customers in Scotland after giving pass marks to all retailers under its first Market Health Check (MHC). The regulator assessed whether retailers are delivering against WICS’ Code of Practice, which sets expectations for the level of service business customers should receive. This involved scrutinising 26 important areas of provider performance, including pre-c

(by Verity Mitchell) Fitch Ratings has upgraded the rating of the senior secured debt of the financing company of Southern Water Services (SWS) to BBB from BBB-‌‌ with a stable outlook. The upgrade reflected sustained equity support from funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management, now joined by Asterion Industrial Partners, which holds a 20% stake. SWS has made public its shareholders' intent to inject further equity to reach 65% reported net debt/regulated capital value (RC

(by Karma Loveday) Just 14.3% of surface waters in England achieved ‘good’ ecological status under the Water Framework Directive Regulations (WFDR) in 2025, according to new data from the Environment Agency (EA). Just 0.1% were ‘high’, 65.4% were ‘moderate’, 17% were ‘poor’ and 3.1% ‘bad’. The EA pointed out that the 14.3% ‘good’ figure is not directly comparable with the 16.3% found to be ‘good’ when classifications were last updated (in 2019, as this happens every six year

(by Karma Loveday) Water UK has urged that the Water Resources Management Plan (WRMP) 29 process be paused to allow companies to engage with the development of a new water supply planning framework. In the interim, it said companies should divert to the highest scenarios of WRMP24 and be allowed to re-open their 2024 plans if they feel their water resource needs have diverged significantly since they were drawn up. The trade body reasoned that WRMP29 guidance contains many of

(by Verity Mitchell) Ofwat has gone out to tender with a three-and-a-half-year contract, worth an estimated £15.6m, to employ an Independent Monitor (IM) to report on Thames Water’s proposed turnaround programme. The IM will undertake monitoring and reporting services across a range of issues at the company, including operational performance, financial resilience, governance and asset management. This tender appears to be independent of any decision in regard to Thames’ curre

(by Verity Mitchell) Rising inflation and interest rates are the biggest challenge for the European infrastructure lending market’s ongoing growth, new research from Nordic Trustee and Ocorian shows. The study found that 31% of infrastructure and private credit fund managers, investment bankers working in private credit, and infrastructure providers have concerns about inflation and high interest rates increasing hurdle rates of investment. Just 6% point to potential cost ove

(by Verity Mitchell) Equity analyst Morningstar has commended United Utilities (UU) as undervalued relative to Severn Trent. It cited re-nationalisation fears, high UK government bonds yields and its relative underperformance in AMP7 compared to Severn Trent. According to the analyst, the prime minister has asked UU to forego its final dividend, payable in August. However it considered this political pressure to have no legal backing. Furthermore, higher government bonds yiel