Ofwat and Water UK: Economic Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Water Sector

The scope of this project encompasses three elements:

Developing a series of scenarios covering economic and social/behavioural changes arising from COVID-19

Identifying which aspects of water company businesses may be impacted (positively or negatively) in these scenarios, and assessing these impacts on water companies.

Projecting forward the scenarios and potential impacts on water companies to test the challenges and opportunities to deliver against the PR19 settlement under these scenarios.

The aim of this work is to understand in what situations water companies would be placed under greater stress due to the impact of COVID-19, what opportunities the new situation might present to them and what the overall effect in each considered scenario would be. This includes both financial elements as well as meeting outcome objectives. It should capture the range of options that water companies have available to them to respond to those scenarios, identify where there may be countervailing benefits or opportunities to companies, and highlight where regulation is a constraint. This work can then be used to understand areas to monitor in the future.

More detail on each element is provided in the ITT: it is envisaged that the first two elements will need to be carried out in parallel in order to meet the project timeline and for both to contribute to the third element.

The project will be overseen by an Advisory Group comprising of Ofwat, Water UK and three or four water companies. Each member of the Advisory Group may provide different feedback. It is anticipated that the Supplier will need to manage potential differences in views between Ofwat and Water UK and, where they remain, reflect those differences in the final report. The Supplier is not required to align with the position of either party but to present its own views which may or may not mirror those of the parties.

Additional information: For further information,please contact procurement@ofwat.gov.uk