Upcoming changes to pollution reporting will affect how Ofwat measures water companies’ performance from January 2026 - the regulator has launched a new consultation on proposals to change how it measures in response to significant changes in how the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) record pollution incidents.

In the first of a series of Expert Focus articles for WaterBriefing, John Lillistone Director of Water at Arqiva, global digital communications specialists for critical infrastructure, takes a look at how a move to outcomes-based contracting for smart metering can help water companies to reduce costs, streamline operations, enhance efficiency and help to foster innovation.

A strong performance on contractual approach, collaboration and communication have catapulted Scottish Water to the top of the 2023 annual water company survey carried out by British Water.

A study conducted on behalf of Ofwat and CCW on assessing the affordability and acceptability of water companies’ AMP8 business plans to customers has flagged up the scale of the challenges the water companies could face in engaging effectively with their customers on a range of issues.

Water companies have made progress towards meeting challenging targets set by the regulator to tackle issues such as leakage, but some companies’ environmental records are still not good enough, according to the latest annual assessment of water companies’ performance by Ofwat.

Ofwat’s Final Determinations on the water companies’ AMP7 Business Plans have allowed a total spend of £51 billion for 2020-25 - £ 6 billion less than the sum originally proposed by the companies.

Ofwat has published a discussion paper setting out its emerging thinking about a new shared vision for the water sector and Ofwat’s strategy for regulating the water and wastewater companies in England and Wales from 2020 onwards.

As the UK struggles to cope with the ongoing heatwave and farmers are due to meet with Government officials for a “drought summit”, Environment Secretary Michael Gove is planning to challenge the Chief Executives of the water companies over their failure to meet leakage targets.

The Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) is warning against water companies being able to give to customers with one hand while taking from them with the other in the 2019 Price Review.

The water sector’s collective nformation dashboard, DiscoverWater.co.uk, has been updated with the latest information from water companies, Ofwat, Drinking Water Inspectorate,Environment Agency, Natural Resources Wales and Consumer Council for Water.