(by Karma Loveday) Ofwat has indicated a muted response to the PR24 provisional redeterminations from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for the five water companies that appealed their 2025-30 regulatory settlements. The CMA has not yet published stakeholder responses to its October draft decisions, but in a summary shared by Ofwat of the key points it has raised, the regulator welcomed the bulk of the Authority’s judgement. It said the CMA decisions are “within 1%

(by Karma Loveday) Water minister Emma Hardy promised a “full White Paper” in response to the Cunliffe Commission recommendations, and a Water Reform Bill “early in this Parliament” when she gave a keynote address at British Water’s annual conference last Monday. The minister’s speech indicated that the Government’s reform package will be ambitious and wide ranging. Change, she argued, is needed because water is an essential public service, vital for growth, and fundamental f

(by Karma Loveday) The Consumer Council for Water (CCW) reiterated its call for a single social tariff to be introduced to end the postcode lottery of water affordability support, as it published its Water Mark report for 2025. This provides an at-a-glance view of each company’s performance across areas important to customers, drawing on customer research, complaints data and operational performance reports (see table). The 2025 Water Mark showed water companies supported 2m

(by Karma Loveday) Defra has convened a new group, to operate until 2030, to try to ensure there is a water workforce of the size and competence needed to deliver the £104bn AMP8 and major projects programmes. At least 30,000 new people are needed to fulfil these commitments. The Water Skills Strategic Group, co-chaired by Defra and Energy & Utility Skills, brings together senior leaders in Government with those from across the water sector and its supply chain. The inaugural

(by Karma Loveday) Major water users have called on Defra and Ofwat to learn from the energy smart metering experience and set smart water meter rollout goals that are aligned to excellent customer experience, rather than to the number of meters installed. That was among the messages in a new guide produced by large water customer representative the Major Energy Users' Council (MEUC), which draws on its members’ experience in energy to share lessons for water – both pitfalls

(by Karma Loveday) The Government is to strengthen the cyber protections of essential industries via the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) introduced to Parliament last week. The Bill contains three pillars of reform to the existing Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018, which cover drinking water, energy, transport, health and digital industries: Regulation – The Bill aims to drive a more co

(by Karma Loveday) The Environment Agency ramped up its warning about drought in 2026 as it published its Drought prospects report last week. It said without average rainfall, most of England will experience a drought with widespread impacts felt by consumers, farmers, businesses, and nature. This followed a Met Office forecast for higher-than-usual likelihood of dry conditions over three months from November to January.  This would cause drought conditions to worsen, and lik

(by Karma Loveday) The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced a new AI Growth Zone in North Wales as part of a policy paper on building the infrastructure to underpin AI development. The paper deals with accelerating grid connections, enabling developers to build their own high voltage infrastructure, targeted electricity price support, planning reforms, community benefits and the formation of a dedicated AI Growth Zone Delivery Unit. But there was litt

(by Karma Loveday) The House of Lords Industry and Regulators Committee has issued a call for evidence for its new inquiry into the relationship between regulators and economic growth, in light of the Government’s ambition for regulators to support investment and innovation and drive growth. The Committee is seeking evidence from regulators, economists, academics, industry experts, consumers, campaigners and others on questions including: What is the role of regulators in sup

(by Karma Loveday) Tonnes of plastic beads are washing up on the East Sussex coastline after escaping from Southern Water’s Eastbourne wastewater treatment works. The company investigation has found that a storm surge on 29 October cased a screening filter to fail, allowing the beads in a tank to be pumped into the sea via the long sea outfall. Because of the distance from shore, it took days for them to wash up on a heavy spring tide and be detected by the community, initial