Water companies submitted their business plans for 2025-2030 to us on 2 October 2023.
We have published key facts and data from their plans, including information on proposed increases in investment and customer bills. We are currently scrutinising the companies’ plans, including looking at their ambition for customers and the environment and the affordability of plans for customers.
The data for customer bills and expenditure allowances was updated on 8 May 2024 to reflect changes made to company business plans since 2 October 2023. The previously published data is still available.
A further update was published on 22 October 2024. This enables comparison between the expenditure request submitted in the final version of each company’s business plan (March 2024), our proposed allowances in the draft determinations (July 2024) and the revised figure requested by each company in their PR24 consultation responses (August 2024). PR24 data update.
Click the links to jump to the relevant section on this page.
Customer bills
Water and wastewater companies
| Actual average bill | Average bill proposed in company business plan | Average bill proposed in Ofwat’s draft determinations | Company representation proposed average bill | Representation bill increase compared with 2024-25 | |
| Water and wastewater companies | 2024-25 | 2029-30 | 2029-30 | 2029-30 | 2029-30 vs 2024-25 |
| Anglian Water | 491 | 573 | 557 | 614 | 25% |
| Dŵr Cymru | 455 | 602 | 603 | 626 | 38% |
| Hafren Dyfrdwy | 392 | 560 | 524 | 568 | 45% |
| Northumbrian Water | 415 | 471 | 460 | 501 | 21% |
| Severn Trent Water | 398 | 546 | 496 | 580 | 46% |
| Southern Water | 420 | 727 | 603 | 772 | 84% |
| South West Water | 497 | 596 | 561 | 613 | 23% |
| Thames Water | 436 | 627 | 535 | 667 | 53% |
| United Utilities | 442 | 554 | 536 | 584 | 32% |
| Wessex Water | 508 | 690 | 497 | 658 | 29% |
| Yorkshire Water | 430 | 569 | 537 | 583 | 35% |
| Weighted average bill | 439 | 585 | 535 | 615 | 40% |
Water only companies
| Actual average bill | Average bill proposed in company business plan | Average bill proposed in Ofwat’s draft determinations | Proposed average bill in representation | Representation increase in company bill from 2024/25 | |
| Water only companies | 2024-25 | 2029-30 | 2029-30 vs 2024-25 | 2029-30 | 2029-30 vs 2024-25 |
| Affinity Water | 192 | 217 | 203 | 240 | 25% |
| Portsmouth Water | 111 | 135 | 135 | 143 | 29% |
| South East Water | 232 | 281 | 248 | 305 | 32% |
| South Staffs Water | 161 | 181 | 183 | 181 | 13% |
| SES Water | 221 | 274 | 187 | 238 | 8% |
| Weighted average bill | 192 | 224 | 204 | 237 | 24% |
- Some companies have restated their 2024-25 bill figures resulting in a change from previously published figures.
- Dŵr Cymru have changed the treatment of social tariffs in their bill presentation. Their 2024/25 actual figures and 2029/30 representation figure now include the impact on average bills of the company’s contribution to social tariffs.
- Southern’s representation includes the impact on bills of costs within the delivery mechanism.
- Companies have adopted different approaches to the treatment of the allowed return to investors in their representations. Some have stated customer bills based on the allowed return included in our draft determinations while suggesting that the allowed return should be higher. Others have proposed a higher allowed return and included this in their calculations.
- The bills shown for each water-only company do not include the cost of wastewater services. These are provided by the water and wastewater company which serves its area.
Expenditure allowances
| Water company | PR24 Business Plan proposals – net total expenditure (£m, 2022-23 prices) | PR24 draft determination allowances (£m, 2022-23 prices) | PR24 company representations on draft determinations (£m, 2022-23 prices) |
Change from business plan proposals to DD representations |
| Anglian Water | 9,522 | 9074 | 10407 | 9.3% |
| Dŵr Cymru | 5,627 | 4978 | 5917 | 5.1% |
| Hafren Dyfrdwy | 256 | 221 | 262 | 2.2% |
| Northumbrian Water | 6,020 | 5608 | 6294 | 4.6% |
| Severn Trent Water | 13,316 | 11282 | 14639 | 9.9% |
| South West Water (inc. Bournemouth and Bristol) | 4,469 | 4098 | 4585 | 2.6% |
| Southern Water | 7,172 | 6715 | 9381 | 30.8% |
| Thames Water | 21,403 | 16312 | 23719 | 10.8% |
| United Utilities | 13,831 | 11414 | 13671 | -1.2% |
| Wessex Water | 5,416 | 3622 | 4984 | -8.0% |
| Yorkshire Water | 7,682 | 7123 | 8019 | 4.4% |
| Affinity Water | 2,127 | 1828 | 2323 | 9.2% |
| Portsmouth Water | 346 | 401 | 361 | 4.4% |
| South East Water | 1,889 | 1278 | 1954 | 3.4% |
| South Staffs Water | 817 | 785 | 806 | -1.3% |
| SES Water | 413 | 329 | 414 | 0.1% |
| Industry total | 100,305 | 85068 | 107736 | 7.4% |
The figures shown are: after the application of frontier shift efficiency (the rate of efficiency improvements that even the most efficient companies in the industry can achieve); real price effects (prices faced by water companies increasing or decreasing, relative to general inflation); and after the deduction of developer services revenue (received from developers to connect new houses to the water and wastewater network).
Water supply interruptions
| Outturn | Business Plan forecast | |
| Water company | Average minutes lost per property (hh:mm:ss) 2022-23 |
Average minutes lost per property (hh:mm:ss) 2029-30 |
| Anglian Water | 00:14:35 | 00:05:00 |
| Dŵr Cymru | 00:44:31 | 00:04:30 |
| Hafren Dyfrdwy | 00:16:39 | 00:05:00 |
| Northumbrian Water | 00:08:17 | 00:04:03 |
| Severn Trent Water | 00:09:10 | 00:05:00 |
| South West Water (inc. Bournemouth and Bristol) | 00:08:29 | 00:04:00 |
| Southern Water | 01:28:00 | 00:04:31 |
| Thames Water | 00:19:54 | 00:09:00 |
| United Utilities | 00:38:45 | 00:04:22 |
| Wessex Water | 00:04:10 | 00:05:00 |
| Yorkshire Water | 00:09:27 | 00:05:20 |
| Affinity Water | 00:12:53 | 00:03:40 |
| Portsmouth Water | 00:02:21 | 00:02:05 |
| South East Water | 03:02:21 | 00:10:14 |
| South Staffs Water | 00:04:29 | 00:02:30 |
| SES Water | 00:03:51 | 00:03:30 |
| Sector average | 00:26:12 | 00:05:28 |
Note: The performance commitment level on water supply interruptions for all companies for 2022-23 was 5 mins 45 seconds; for 2024-25 it is 5 minutes.
Leakage
| 2022-23 outturn performance leakage cubic metre per kilometre mains, m3/km/d | Leakage reduction from 2017-18 baseline, % |
||
| Water company | 2022-23 | 2029-30 | |
| Anglian Water | 4.65 | 4.5% | 20.8% |
| Dŵr Cymru | 9.08 | -21.2% | 17.3% |
| Hafren Dyfrdwy | 5.41 | 20.1% | 30.7% |
| Northumbrian Water | 6.59 | 14.0% | 22.9% |
| Severn Trent Water | 8.69 | 7.5% | 35.6% |
| South West Water (inc. Bournemouth and Bristol) | 5.95 | 11.9% | 35.1% |
| Southern Water | 7.80 | -5.8% | 35.0% |
| Thames Water | 19.41 | 11.4% | 41.2% |
| United Utilities | 9.87 | 5.9% | 26.4% |
| Wessex Water | 5.88 | 6.9% | 21.2% |
| Yorkshire Water | 8.76 | 12.4% | 31.0% |
| Affinity Water | 8.88 | 15.7% | 29.4% |
| Portsmouth Water | 9.51 | 0.6% | 37.3% |
| South East Water | 6.80 | -6.4% | 26.5% |
| South Staffs Water | 9.04 | 13.1% | 33.2% |
| SES Water | 6.46 | 11.6% | 31.0% |
| Sector average | 8.80 | 7.0% | 31.2% |
Regional leakage breakdowns
| 2022-23 outturn performance leakage cubic metre per kilometre mains, m3/km/d | Leakage reduction from 2017-18 baseline, % |
||
| Region | 2022-23 | 2029-30 | |
| South West Water (Bristol region) | 5.68 | 10.0% | 32.8% |
| South West Water (South West and Bournemouth regions) | 6.05 | 12.5% | 35.9% |
| Northumbrian Water (Essex and Suffolk region) | 6.23 | 16.9% | 23.6% |
| Northumbrian Water (Northern region) | 6.78 | 12.5% | 22.5% |
| South Staffs Water (Cambridge region) | 5.40 | 14.1% | 32.1% |
| South Staffs Water (South Staffordshire region) | 10.50 | 12.9% | 33.3% |
Note: The sector needs to meet a 50% leakage reduction by 2050 compared to a 2017-18 baseline. Over the 2020-25 period companies have committed to reducing leakage by 16%.
Storm overflow spills
| Average number of spills per overflow (based on total number of monitored spills and total number of storm overflows with spill data) | Average number of spills per storm overflow (based on total number of monitored spills and total number of overflows) | Percentage reduction in average number of spills per storm overflow, 2021 to 2029 | |
| Company | 2021 | 2029 | |
| Anglian Water | 25.60 | 16.63 | 35.0% |
| Dŵr Cymru | 43.49 | 38.70 | 11.0% |
| Hafren Dyfrdwy | 34.90 | 29.81 | 14.6% |
| Northumbrian Water | 25.34 | 16.42 | 35.2% |
| Severn Trent Water | 24.74 | 14.00 | 43.4% |
| South West Water | 38.87 | 17.50 | 55.0% |
| Southern Water | 20.23 | 15.45 | 23.6% |
| Thames Water | 31.92 | 17.21 | 46.1% |
| United Utilities | 41.80 | 19.60 | 53.1% |
| Wessex Water | 22.45 | 21.13 | 5.9% |
| Yorkshire Water | 33.57 | 25.37 | 24.4% |
| Sector | 32.16 | 21.26 | 33.9% |
Notes:
- Data for 2021 based on data reported to the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales; storm overflow performance is reported on a calendar year basis.
- We have compared the forecast position in 2029 to that of 2021 as rainfall for this year was similar to the long–term average.
- Hafren Dyfrdwy has informed us that it intends to revise the storm overflow figures in its PR24 business plan. We have therefore used its revised figure of 29.81 for 2029-30. This replaces the figure of 40.23 in the company’s PR24 business plan.
- For other companies numbers are based on those submitted in business plans on 2 October. Amendments have been made following initial checks by Ofwat.