© Provided by City AM The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) today published its findings on the price controls for four water companies for 2020-2025.
The group set a headline rate of return to investors of 3.2 per cent compared with 4.6 per cent in the previous price control period.
It said the return is the minimum that is sufficient to allow the companies to finance their activities and invest in long-term infrastructure.
As a result, customers will be spending an average of £34 less per year on their bills than what they were paying in 2019/20.
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Dispute settled
In March 2020, Anglian, Bristol, Northumbrian and Yorkshire asked the CMA to redetermine their price controls.
The water companies set out how much they wanted to spend over the next five years and Ofwat set out theirs.
13 companies accepted Ofwat's decision, but four decided to appeal it to the CMA.
The regulator was required to appoint an independent group to conduct a redetermination of the price controls to promote the interests of consumers and consider the long-term resilience of water infrastructure.
This means the group must provide the four water companies with enough money for them to cover their current running costs and pay for improvements for the future.
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Lower bills
Kip Meek, chair of the CMA inquiry group, said: "In coming to our decision, we have sought to balance keeping bills low with the need to maintain a good quality of service and to invest in critical infrastructure for the future.
"Our decision means that customers of these companies will be paying, on average, £34 less per year for their water than they did in 2019/20."
Yorkshire Water welcomed the CMA's decision. "This has been a lengthy and thorough process by the CMA, but one conducted with rigour and fairness," a spokesperson said.
"We can now draw a line under the last price review and start to work collaboratively with government and regulators to ensure that we restore the balance to the sector and deliver long term resilience whilst protecting customer interests."
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