New evidence submitted to the Competition and Markets Authority’s Price Review investigation is suggesting that Ofwat’s Gearing Outperformance Mechanism (GOM) is flawed and should be rejected, its approach to assessing financeability is inadequate, and the Final Determination appears to be imbalanced in favour of short-term bill reductions at the expense of consumer interests in the medium and long-term.

Southern Water has called into question Ofwat’s 2019 Price Review decisions, saying that its acceptance of the regulator’s final determination (FD) should not be interpreted as accepting that “Ofwat had, in all cases, arrived at the correct balance of costs, outcomes, and financeability.”

Reforms confirmed today by Ofwat could see the most highly geared water companies forced to share up to £230 million with customers over the period 2020-2025.