Ofwat declares no leaders and net penalties in industry performance

Ofwat last week said no water company in England or Wales could be considered ‘leading’, as it published its 2022-23 water company performance report.

Ten firms were branded ‘average’ and the remaining seven as "lagging behind" as shown in the table. The report was based on company delivery against performance commitments in the year.

Alongside, the regulator issued its draft determinations for Outcome Delivery Incentive payments for the 2022-23 year. Collectively the industry will have to return £114m to customers for underperformance, though that disguises very varied performance. This ranged from an £88m reward for Severn Trent to a £100m penalty for Thames.

A Water UK spokesperson accepted there was “much more to do to meet the regulator’s ever-tightening targets” but highlighted significant improvements including fewer pollutions and less leakage.