Portsmouth Water has published its Draft Business Plan for 2020-2025 which will see customer bills’ kept the lowest in England and Wales.
The plan has now been submitted to Ofwat, the economic regulator, who will consider the proposals and are expected to announce the outcome to their assessment by the end of January 2019.
The water company is proposing to reduce bills from 2020 to an average of £97 per year, whilst still further enhancing service to customers, looking after vulnerable customers and protecting the environment.
The Plan has been developed after extensive consultation with customers – Portsmouth Water commented
“ We believe it will allow us to build on our already excellent record of service aligned with the lowest water bills in England and Wales.”
The plan includes ambitious targets in leakage reduction as well as a long term aspiration of reducing water use to 100 litres per person per day (currently at 144 litres).
A key feature of the plan is a new major water resource for the South East – a reservoir at Havant Thicket. The reservoir will help Portsmouth Water to share its other water resources with other water companies and increase the reliability of customer supplies. The Havant Thicket Winter Storage Reservoir is planned to enter service in 2029.
The reservoir was selected by the Water Resources in the South East (WRSE) modelling as a solution to future potential water shortages in the region. Porstmouth Water said it will be building the reservoir in close collaboration with Southern Water.
Portsmouth has concluded that, following extensive analysis, the Direct Procurement for Customers option for the reservoir does not represent the best value for customers. Instead, investors will contribute “substantial new capital to the development of HTWSR as part of a comprehensive market financing package” the plan says. Ancala Partners became new owners of the water company acquired Portsmouth Water in March this year.
The overall Capital Expenditure plan totals £73.4 million - the Havant Thicket Winter Storage Reservoir has been separately costed at £103 million.
Neville Smith, Managing Director of Portsmouth Water said:
“We have sought to put the views of our customers at the very heart of our plans. We listened to their views and have put together a robust plan for the future that ensures resilience of supply whilst remaining good custodians of the environment we live in. I am delighted that with this plan we will be able to deliver a range of improvements to customers whilst reducing water bills keeping our bills the lowest in England and Wales”.
Click here to download the business plan
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