Water-only companies may face PR24 pollution Performance Commitments

Ofwat is consulting until 11 November on a proposal to extend PR24 Performance Commitments (PCs) on serious pollution incidents and discharge permit compliance to cover water only companies as well as water and sewerage companies. The PCs for WoCs would be set at 100% compliance, as they are for WaSCs.

Pollutions can result from companies’ water activities as well as wastewater activities. In a letter to stakeholders, Ofwat noted: “Information supplied by the Environment Agency indicates that there were a number of discharge compliance permit fails for WoCs in 2021. Compliance was slightly poorer than that for water assets for WaSCs, indicating that there may be some best practice principles that could be shared.

Although there have not been any serious pollution incidents related to WoCs in the last two years, there have previously been occurrences."

The regulator has asked for views on the plan, as well as on whether the PCs, if implemented, should be separate for water and wastewater components.