Business water demand set to become a PR24 performance commitment

Ofwat has mooted including business water demand as a PR24 Performance Commitment (PC), or moving to use of a distributional input metric combining business demand, per capita consumption and leakage.

This was among the proposals published for consultation until 13 January in a paper about emerging proposals for PCs at PR24. PCs are the metrics that Ofwat uses to measure the service that water companies deliver for customers and the environment as part of the price control.

Ofwat said it would focus on outcomes in three areas: excellent service for customers, environmental outcomes, and operational resilience. It continued: “We are aiming to streamline our choice of outcomes measures in each of these categories by focusing on common PCs [bespoke PCs will be by exception]; key outcomes which we will maintain in the long-term; and PCs suitable for financial incentives.”

The table summarises Ofwat’s emerging expectations for customer service and environmental performance common PCs. The regulator said it would consider asset health and operational resilience PCs in detail following the completion of the UKWIR project 'Future Asset Planning' in December 2021.