Water industry regulator Ofwat has announced that it will proceed with early draft determinations for Northumbrian Water and Dŵr Cymru AMP6 Business Plans.

On 10 March Ofwat invited companies that did not pre-qualify for enhanced status under the risk-based review to submit revised business plans by 2 May 2014 and request a draft determination by 25 June.

To accept a request for an early draft determination, Ofwat said that companies must submit further information addressing outstanding queries and be of a sufficiently high quality to form the basis of the draft determination.

Northumbrian Water and Dŵr Cymru both submitted revised business plans to the regulator on 2 May. Ofwat has now examined the plans and said that it considers that both companies “have applied best endeavours” to address the gaps identified under the risk-based review.

Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water's revised AMP6 business plan proposed a 6% reduction in its average household water and sewerage bills by 2020. In its original business plan submitted in December, the company proposed a 4.8 per cent reduction compared with current levels. Welsh Water’s latest proposals will see average household bills fall by £26 compared to current prices.

Ofwat will now proceed with early draft determinations for Northumbrian Water and Dŵr Cymru which will be published by no later than 25 June.

Last month the regulator confirmed that South West Water and Affinity Water had been awarded ‘enhanced’ status as part of its 2014 price review.

Ofwat’s draft determinations are still awaited on a further 17 companies.