Has Ofwat lost its regulatory teeth?

摘要

The CMA's provisional verdict on the appeals submitted by four UK water companies over the outcome of the 2019 regulatory price review is probably the most severe setback that Ofwat has suffered since the water industry was privatised over 30 years ago (see story, facing page). While the competition authority may yet make some minor amendments before it sends its final rulings to Ofwat in December, a significant change on its key finding - that Ofwat had underestimated the sector's cost of equity by almost 1% - is not expected to be among the revisions.