Scottish Water is performing broadly in line with the requirements of its final determination for SRC21, regulator the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) reported in its 2023-24 review of the company’s performance.
It welcomed in particular that Scottish Water had improved its performance on investment delivery, to return to within its target range for performance, after last year’s report showed the company to be around a month behind schedule. However, WICS noted the firm remained behind on the 84 projects carried forward from the SRC15 period, having completed 64.
WICS said Scottish Water had outperformed on opex and Private Finance Initiative contracts, with actual expenditure 3% lower than allowances. Moreover, it said the firm had broadly maintained its levels of service performance in 2023-24. This included its household and non-household Customer Experience Measures and the Outcome Performance Assessment, which covers areas of operational performance such as water interruptions, water pressure and sewer flooding. Performance in each of these areas was within its target range.
However, for the first time in seven years, Scottish Water’s leakage from its network increased, falling outside the upper end of its target range by around 2%.
The report marked the halfway point in SRC21 delivery. WICS said Scottish Water had invested around £80m less than forecast in the final determination during the first half of the regulatory period (2021-22 to 2023-24). WICS recognised there is likely to be £500m less of investment than was assumed when charge caps were set, because Scottish Water did not price up to the cap during the height of the cost of living crisis.
Comments