Water industry regulator Ofwat has spent a total of £324,621.20 on external consultancy fees with PriceWaterhouseCoopers during in the first month of 2014.
The information is contained in data published today on individual amounts greater than £25,000 spent by the regulator in January.
Ofwat spent a total of £212,278.10 on three separate pieces of work with PriceWaterhouseCoopers on technical consultancy for work on the recent Thames Water Interim Determination request for an increase in the prices it could charge customers in 2014-15.
Ofwat also spent a further £112,343.1 on financial consultancy with PWC on implementing price limits for PR14.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers was appointed by the regulator as its preferred delivery partner for the 2014 Price Review in August 2013 – the contract runs until the end of 2014.
Last month the regulator published a “lessons learned report” on its internal budget planning and forecasting process which failed to anticipate the need to seek a significant increase in its 2013-14 budget and budget forecast for 2014-15.
In February 2013, Ofwat’s Board approved a £21.5 million budget for 2013-14 which included £5.6 million for external consultancy and legal support.
The budget increase of £5.6 million - up from £21.5 million to £27.1 million - was needed to address an under-estimate of the organisation’s budget to meet the full delivery costs of the 2014 price review alongside other commitments.
The shortfall for 2013-14 was bridged through a combination of a special licence fee of £3.2 million, and drawing down an additional £2.4 million.
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