While customers in England and Wales have seen bills remain flat in real terms, for three decades, the needs of our water and wastewater network have grown significantly," said Lila Thompson, chief executive of British Water.

"Increased investment is essential to meet Ofwat’s ambitions for affordability long term, improvements in customer service and environmental performance. To meet all of these ambitions, we will need an effective ecosystem of key stakeholders where the supply chain can thrive to deliver the diverse range of technologies and solutions for AMP8 and beyond. In calling for change, British Water is asking the sector to step up to embed a culture of collaboration, consistency of approach, the necessary investment and ongoing visibility and transparency so that there is certainty for supply chain companies to deliver the much needed innovations for the future. 

Following Ofwat's £88bn Draft Determinations, British Water is seeking the following:

• An embedded culture of collaboration
• Visibility of programmes
• A balanced work profile over the whole 5 years
• Sufficient availability of resources 
• Contract terms that do not pass down onerous risks to the supply chain
• Standardisation of solutions across water companies and  
• The faster adoption of Innovation

"British Water and its members stand ready to be a vital partner in these discussions and to contributing to positive change across the industry."

British Water will be reviewing the Draft Determinations and will be providing a substantive response in due course.
 
Ofwat has today proposed allowing a spending package of £88bn by water companies.
£35bn of the expenditure reflects the investment needed to reduce pollution, improve customer service, river and bathing water quality, and deliver greater resilience to the impact of climate change. This is more than a trebling of the level of investment in the 2020 to 2025 period.
The total expenditure proposed is £16bn lower than in companies’ business plans. This reflects Ofwat’s analysis of those plans, removing or reducing costs where expenditure is insufficiently justified, inefficient or for activity for which companies have already been funded; customers will not pay twice.
 
Ofwat has signaled that Thames Water will go into special measures with the appointment of an independent monitor in a new oversight regime.