November 2020
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference will assess the next steps for developing England’s water market, priorities for the new PR19 framework period and developing and innovating water infrastructure in England.
The discussion at a glance:
- the PR19 regulatory framework - environmental commitments, costs and financial sustainability
- infrastructure and resilience - asset use, innovation, preparing for future demand, and tackling barriers
- policy priorities - supporting modernisation and protecting consumers
The agenda:
- The final PR19 determinations and reforming the regulatory regime - new commitments for services, cost effectiveness, and quality for consumers
- Adjusting to the new price review period and priorities for meeting demand - environmental commitments, financial sustainability, and costs for consumers
- Preparing a green COVID-19 recovery - cooperation across asset use, sharing development plans and best practice, and latest thinking on decarbonising operations and setting a plan for net-zero by 2030
- Next steps for developing and innovating water infrastructure in England
- Overcoming legal and physical challenges for delivering water infrastructure projects, and navigating through the NSIP regime framework
- Addressing future pressures on infrastructure assets and delivering long-term resilience
- Optimising investment in asset health in the water industry
- Strategic Water resource options – the environmental challenges we need to address to meet the future demand for water
- Next steps for water sector research and development - the future of AI and data for smarter operations, and decentralised water systems for cost effectiveness
- Policy priorities for England’s water sector, and ensuring regulation supports infrastructure modernisation and service quality
The policy context - a scan of developments:
- PR19:
- as the water sector enters the new regulatory regime period
- Water regulator consults on final financial settlements following performance report submissions - Ofwat’s consultation
- water price controls - Provisional findings published in CMA review of water price controls - and Response to the provisional findings from the CMA from Ofwat
- Water and sewerage companies in England: environmental performance report for 2019 - from the EA with its chair due to meeting with water companies to make clear expectations
- the Regulators’ Alliance for Progressing Infrastructure Development (RAPID) - formed by Ofwat, the EA and the Drinking Water Inspectorate to present one regulatory interface and support new water development infrastructure and future regulatory framework design
- Flood and coastal erosion risk management - the Government’s policy statement on its long-term plan to tackle the risks of flooding and coastal erosion - which included a commitment to consider if additional outcome measures for water companies are required ahead of the 2024 Price Review, and through future Price Reviews, to address flood and coastal resilience
- The Agriculture Bill and the Environment Bill - including plans for moving towards a system of payment for public goods and the introduction of an Office for Environmental Protection (OEP)
- Covid-19 and the business retail market - Ofwat’s consultation and its Final decisions to address liquidity challenges and increases in bad debt
- Budget 2020 - with £39m earmarked for water supply and water navigation assets, including the provision of upfront funds for repairs
- Meeting our future water needs: a national framework for water resources - from the EA outlining future water needs in England and how these can be met while restoring the environment:
- the scale of action needed
- the designation of regional groups to address location-specific issues
- addressing risks to coastal wetlands and ecosystems
- Report of a review of the arrangements for determining responsibility for surface water and drainage assets - commissioned by the Government, which is immediately accepting 12 of the recommendations
The discussion in detail:
PR19
- the new framework - meeting the new requirements around customer services, affordability, and financial sustainability - implications, outstanding issues and practical ways forward
- consumer bills - rate reform, return on investment and service improvement - delivering reductions in consumer costs and in leakages, and adjusting business strategies
- financial - designing incentive regime structures that enable efficient services, ensure resilience to market shocks, while reserving capital for essential infrastructure projects and improvements
- environmental sustainability - integrating improvements into business plans, tackling flooding and pollution, delivering local modernisation upgrades, and working towards net-zero by 2030
A green COVID-19 recovery
- cooperation across assets - strategies for enabling the sharing of resources, infrastructure and advances best practice around resilience and recovery, and preserving the quality of consumer services
- accelerating decarbonisation - opportunities for reducing emissions from wastewater treatment processes, increasing energy efficiency, and fully integrating climate goals into business plans
- innovation - priority areas for research and development, including utilising AI and smart technology to improve efficiency and reduce costs, and digitisation to improve agility and service delivery
Infrastructure and resilience
- resilience - discussing the Government’s long-term plan, how to meet future pressures of droughts and flooding, reservoir and dam investment priorities, and developing demand management
- regional infrastructure - addressing local deficiencies, assessing demand, climate risks, and cost effective solutions, and opportunities for working collaboratively with key stakeholders
- planning for future demand - direct connections to households, and ensuring that upgrades remain cost effective and that the planning system enables agile development
Environmental protection
- environmental recovery - delivering improvements to the environment and the habitats of species where resilience has been eroded
- wastewater - priorities for infrastructure and ensuring that treatment processes do not contaminate land or ecosystems, and that waste management and transport systems are sustainable
- water reuse - expanding the development of suitable facilities, and working with suppliers, infrastructure developers and consumers to improve efficiency and reduce water consumption
- collaborative approaches - strategies for bringing together key water sector stakeholders and environmental bodies to:
- drive forward environmental protections and tackle flooding
- develop key infrastructure and increase the supply of clean water reserves
- enhance protection of habitats and the wider ecosystem
Policy officials attending:
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders. Places have been reserved by parliamentary pass-holders from both Houses of Parliament and officials from Ofwat; Ofgem; Defra; the Cabinet Office; the Drinking Water Inspectorate; BEIS; the Committee on Climate Change; the Department for Transport and the National Audit Office.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
