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.

The Competition and Markets Authority has published a paper setting out its proposed approach to the appeals by Anglian, Bristol, Northumbrian and Yorkshire Water against Ofwat’s PR19 Final Determinations on their AMP7 Business Plans.

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.”

The Blueprint for Water environmental coalition has suggested that some of Ofwat’s Final Determination decisions on the water companies’ AMP7 Business Plans in the 2019 Price Review risk undermining significant gains made by the water industry.

Smart asset planning, improved industry collaboration, quicker adoption of technologies, more onus on innovation and greater responsiveness, have all been heralded by industry experts as crucial if water companies want to meet the challenges posed by Ofwat’s PR19.