Ofwat’s final Water Company Performance Report (WCPR) for the 2020-25 period published this morning for 2024-25 shows deterioration in water company performance on pollution incidents, water supply interruptions and customer satisfaction in the financial year 2024-25.

The regulator’s report analyses the performance of the 16 largest water and wastewater companies in England and Wales across a set of key performance and expenditure metrics based on information taken from the companies’ own annual performance reports.

The report shows that water company performance has been mixed — both between companies and across performance areas. There has been progress in areas that most impact customers — for example, internal sewer flooding has improved with two companies achieving 70% or more reduction over the 2020-25 period, and the sector improving the reach of their Priority Services Registers (PSR) from 2% to 12.8%. The quality of drinking water has remained consistently high and ranks among the best in the world, with 99.97% compliance with standards. Importantly for the most vulnerable customers, the sector has improved the reach of their Priority Services Registers (PSR) from 2% to 12.8%.

For nine of the 12 performance commitments reported on in the WCPR there has been an improvement in the sector average over the 2020-25 period. The biggest improvements have been for sewer collapses (36%), internal sewer flooding (29%), and drinking water quality compliance (34%).

However, the report also highlights continuing challenges where companies have fallen short, including how pollution incidents remain at unacceptable levels, with only two companies reporting a reduction in incidents over the five-year period.

The report states:

“Disappointingly there has been a deterioration in performance across the period for three of the performance commitments. Pollution incidents has seen the biggest deterioration, with the number of incidents per 10,000 km of sewer being 27% higher at the end of the 2020-25 period than at the beginning. Water supply interruptions and customer satisfaction have also seen some deterioration (8% and 9% respectively).”

The report says that companies need to take action to reduce pollution incidents which have increased again in 2024.

The sector had committed to delivering a 30% reduction in the 2020-25 period. Companies achieved a reduction of 15% in the first three years, but the increase in the final two years has led to an overall 27% increase in numbers across the 2020-25 period.

Looking forward, for the 2025-30 period there are two additional performance commitments measuring and monitoring company performance in this area; serious pollution incidents and storm overflows.

The report also points out that supply interruptions are at unreasonable levels for some, with too many customers being impacted by long duration interruptions and with some companies being repeat offenders.

In addition, customer satisfaction has continued to fall and is now at its lowest level since the measure was introduced in 2020-21.

The report says:

“Disappointingly there has been a deterioration in performance across the period for three of the performance commitments. Pollution incidents has seen the biggest deterioration, with the number of incidents per 10,000 km of sewer being 27% higher at the end of the 2020-25 period than at the beginning. Water supply interruptions and customer satisfaction have also seen some deterioration (8% and 9% respectively).”

Number of companies in lagging behind category increased from three in 2023-24 to five in 2024-25

Ofwat has grouped companies into three categories relative to each other (leading, average and lagging behind) based on how they have performed against the performance commitment levels in 2024-25.

There is one company in the leading category, 11 in the average category and five in the lagging behind category this year. Performance across all companies shows a mixed picture:

• Leading category – Portsmouth Water is the only company in the leading category in 2024-25. This is the second time the company has been in this category in the 2020-25 period.
• Average category – Anglian Water reported improved performance in 2024-25 and has subsequently moved out of the lagging category and into the average category. South West Water – Bristol region and South East Water have maintained their positions in the average category in 2024-25 after improving and moving out of the lagging behind category in 2023-24. All other companies have been in this category for at least three consecutive years
• Lagging behind– DŵrCymru and Southern Water remain in this category from 2023-24. Southern Water has been in the lagging behind category every year of the 2020-25 period and DŵrCymru for four consecutive years. Thames Water and Yorkshire Water moved into the average category from the lagging behind category in 2023-24 but have not managed to maintain this improvement and have dropped back into the lagging behind category in 2024-25. Thames Water has now been in this category for four years of the 2020-25 period and Yorkshire Water for three years. SES Water was in the lagging behind category in the first year of the period (2020-21) and was then in the average category for three years before dropping into the lagging behind category again in 2024-25.

“We are disappointed that the number of companies in the lagging behind category has increased from three in 2023-24 to five in 2024-25,” the report says.

Click here to download the report