Delivering for our customers
Our parent company Pennon, has confirmed plans to deliver what matters most to customers and communities for the period 2025-2030, with record levels of investment across the South West, Bristol, Bournemouth and Sutton and East Surrey.
£3.2bn investment will see further improvements across the main customer priorities – securing safe, clean drinking water, reducing the use of storm overflows and protecting the environment, with investments in renewables.
How do we form our business plan?
The following factors help to form our business plan:
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Statutory requirements
Our plan is driven first by Government policy – what we are legally required to deliver. This includes public health, drinking water quality, wastewater compliance, drainage security and safety.
These always come first because they are legal obligations and they support our environmental objectives.
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Customer priorities
Customer insights help us to shape how we deliver positive outcomes. This includes research and engagement, willingness to pay evidence, complaints and service feedback.
This helps decide how obligations are met and where extra investment matters most.
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Regulatory requirements
We propose the performance targets and expectations for efficiency that are challenged by our regulators. These include service standards, performance targets and incentives/penalties.
These expectations shape how we plan and prioritise investment.
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Forming the business plan
We bring together customer feedback, legal requirements and long-term needs of our network to develop our business plan.
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Ofwat review
Ofwat reviews the business plan in detail, including assessing the cost of financing, ensuring statutory requirements are met and confirming that proposed costs and performance targets are realistic. It then sets the ‘financial determination’ which defines allowed revenue, required service levels, efficiency expectations and investment allowances.
Overall, Ofwat’s role is to make sure the plan is fair affordable and deliver the right outcomes for customers.
We continue to work closely with Ofwat to review the business plan regularly, ensuring it remains on track, meetings customer needs and is cost effective, with changes made where necessary.
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Delivery and monitoring
Once agreed, we deliver the plan and invest in improvements. Delivery is monitored by government, regulators and stakeholders. Companies are expected to keep customers and their representatives up to date and make improvements as soon as possible.
Our draft determination response
Each of the response appendices and models can be downloaded from the list below.