Water consumption rose by 9% during lockdown year

Per capita consumption (PCC) of water increased by an average of 9% during 2020/21, with no water company having met its target to reduce PCC, Ofwat’s annual service and delivery report has shown.

Only South West reported a fall during the year that saw a national shift in consumption habits during lockdown. South Staffs and Cambridge saw the greatest increase of 18%.

Overall, Severn Trent, Anglian, and Portsmouth were named as the top performers across a number of key operational metrics. At the bottom end of the table, Southern, Thames, Bristol, South East and SES were identified as underperforming across performance indicators.

The regulator said progress had been made on leakage and supply interruptions but environmental performance remained inadequate at some companies. The report showed most wastewater companies missed targets for reducing internal sewer flooding with only three – South West, Anglian, and Wessex, meeting their goals. Ofwat assessed that progress to cut pollution incidents had “stagnated or deteriorated”. However, half the companies did achieve their targets, with Northumbrian, Severn Trent and United Utilities leading the sector.

The annual report showed 13 companies achieved their 2020/21 leakage targets and some are “making considerable progress” towards their 2024/25 goals. It said the first year of this price control period, which saw four companies appeal against their determination, demonstrated that 2024/25 targets are achievable.

Companies’ spending exceeded wholesale cost allowances by 1% on average during the year, partly due to early investment to meet AMP7 outcome delivery goals. At the same point during AMP6, average expenditure was 6% less than allowances.

Ofwat said no companies achieved the highest standards of customer service seen in other sectors as measured by the UK Customer Service Index.

Although Affinity, SES, Southern and Thames were the four worst performers on C-Mex for the second year, each improved during the year and are implementing plans to improve C-Mex performance further through better complaints handling, digitising customer service channels and understanding better what customers want.

Ofwat will shortly publish its proposals to protect customers by enhancing resilience. Interim chief executive, David Black, said the sector had work to do on both transparency and resilience.

He said: “Over the past year we have seen some areas of progress in water company performance, most noticeably on tackling leakage and maintaining a reliable supply of services through the pandemic. But, on environmental measures some companies are still falling short and they are not doing enough to confront the grim consequences of internal sewer flooding.

“Companies lagging behind need to catch up with the best performers and they need to do so quickly.”