MAIN FEATURE
Change is the only certainty as AMP8 begins
Enquiries to: Nancy Smith
nancy@wiseonwater.com
As the UK water sector embarks on a new investment period, with a massive increase in spending, Natasha Wiseman and Nancy Smith, chief executive and technical writer at WiseOnWater, listen in on leading voices in regulation, water companies and the supply chain.
The water sector in England and Wales is going through a great period of unprecedented change and reform, with some £104 billion investment planned for AMP8 – the water company asset management plan period 2025-2030. This represents a doubling of the £51 billion invested in AMP7, making it clear to the sector and the public that the 16 water and wastewater companies in England and Wales, together with Ofwat, mean business.
Alongside this scale-up in investment, the Independant Water Commission, chaired by Sir Jon Cunliffe, has been heralded as the largest review of the sector since privatisation, and is calling for evidence from all stakeholders. The Commission is
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looking at the sector’s regulatory framework and will make perhaps long overdue recommendations for reform.
This call for evidence closes on 23 April 2025, and the Commission aims to deliver “an ambitious, long-term, approach to resetting the water sector, in a new partnership between government, regulators, water companies, customers, investors and all those who enjoy our waters and work to protect our environment.”
The Commission’s findings and recommendations to the UK and Welsh governments are expected mid-2025 and will impact the entire sector as it embarks on AMP8. This is happening just as six companies, Anglian Water, Northumbrian Water, Thames Water, Southern Water, South East Water and Wessex Water take Ofwat’s final determinations on their 2025- 30 business plans to the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) on appeal.
At a time of such intensity, change and activity, knowledge is king, and there are
| April 2025 |
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plenty of conversations happening on all sides. There follows a range of perspectives from leading voices in regulation, water companies and the supply chain, on the challenges and opportunities ahead.
Regulatory pressure
Regulators were clear well before Ofwat’s final determinations were released in December 2024, that the industry needs to change. Speaking on the WiseOnWater podcast in September, Helen Wakeman, director of water at the Environment Agency (EA), had praise for the significant improvements made in the water environment since the 1990s, but emphasised the need for accelerated progress to meet growing demands and address climate change.
“What we've seen is really big strides in the 1990s and early 2000s,” she said. “The introduction of the Water Framework Directive gave us a framework to invest in our water environment.
“We got the regulations and the
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