Most water companies in England and Wales are failing to meet their per capita consumption (PCC) targets, with overall performance deteriorating by 2 per cent since 2012/13 and pollution incidents up year on year.
Ofwat’s service delivery report for 2018/19 showed Southern, Thames, SES and South East each cut PCC significantly over AMP6 with smaller decreases made by Anglian and South Staffs.
However, the annual performance assessment showed those improvements were offset by PCC increases of more than 10 per cent by Welsh Water, United Utilities and South West. Severn Trent and Wessex PCC climbed by more than 5 per cent since 2012/13.
Ofwat said rapid progress is needed because only Southern, Yorkshire and SES met their PCC targets in 2019/19.
Chief executive Rachel Fletcher said companies must act with urgency and real commitment to meet the standards customers deserve, as the report showed some companies continue to “fall short of expectations”.
Ofwat noted each company showed aspects of leading performance in different categories with Wessex, Northumbrian, Bristol and South Staffs named as the top ranked overall.
Thames, Southern, Affinity and Hafren Dyfrdwy need to “deliver a real change in performance” as the lowest rated, according to the regulator.
Fletcher praised the gains made in leakage and supply interruptions but added that environmental performance is still not good enough.
“Minimising water companies’ impact on the natural world and leaving the environment in a better state for future generations will only happen if the environment is given greater attention,” she said. “New targets for the coming year will start to bite if faster progress is not made in this area.”
Pollution incidents remained a key concern, with Hafren Dyfrdwy, South West and Southern all failing to meet targets for 2018/19. Both Southern and South West reported more than 100 pollution incidents per 10,000km of sewer, compared with top performer Northumbrian, which had 15 per 10,000km.
Ofwat noted that pollution incidents increased by 19 per cent in 2019 compared to 2018. That was after a decrease the previous year of 41 per cent, which means the sector has overall reduced incidents by around 21 per cent since 2012.
More positively, every company exceeded their commitments to protecting and enhancing biodiversity.
Performance against targets for 2018/19 for each company:
