Ofwat confirms only Bristol Water rejected the final determinations

Ofwat has confirmed that Bristol Water is the only one of the 18 water companies to reject its final determination.

Ofwat said it will refer Bristol Water’s final determination to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) “in due course” and work with CMA as well as other stakeholders “to protect the best interests of customers”.

Bristol Water rejected the final determination last week, with chief executive Luis Garcia stating: “We do not believe that the determination Ofwat has set is in the long term interest of our customers and stakeholders and we believe that a review by the CMA will result in a better outcome.”

The company also criticised Ofwat’s “flawed modelling” used in coming up with the price control.

All of the other 17 companies have accepted their final determinations. This includes United Utilities and Thames Water, which were asked by Ofwat to make cuts of £760 million and £331 million respectively at the draft determination stage.

Severn Trent accepted their final determination at the end of January, but announced at the same time that it would cut its dividend by 5 per cent.

The five year price controls will come into force from April and will see average bills fall by 5 per cent in real terms by 2020.