Какво се случи
As Jessica Elgot reported for the Guardian on Friday 23 October 2026, the Environment Secretary, Angela Eagle, has written to water company chief executives in England and Wales and to the regulators about the next price review. That is the five-yearly process in which Ofwat decides how much each regulated water company can charge customers to pay for its investment and running costs. The Guardian says ministers have never intervened in it before.
According to the Guardian, the letter says:
- Affordability comes first. The price review must give bill payers much better value for money, though the letter stops short of demanding bill cuts.
- Spend to save. Companies should invest in new technology that saves money, and act early on leaks and sewage spills.
- More say for local areas. Better communication, with more decision-making handed to local communities and leaders.
- Not business as usual. Defra sources told the Guardian this is the first of a series of changes, with more to follow in the government's 10-year plan after the Budget.
What is confirmed and what is only reported
We could not find the letter on gov.uk, and neither Defra nor Ofwat had published an announcement about it when we checked on the morning of 24 October. Everything in the list above comes from the Guardian's report. These parts are on the record:
- Angela Eagle was appointed Environment Secretary on 20 July 2026. Ofwat is the economic regulator for water and sewerage in England and Wales.
- Ofwat's last price review, in December 2024, set prices for 16 regulated companies for 2025 to 2030, which it said would raise average bills by £157 (36%) over the five years. Five companies appealed, and the Competition and Markets Authority gave its final decision on 10 March 2026.
- The government's water white paper, published in January 2026, keeps a five-year price review cycle, names the next review PR29 and says the government expects Ofwat to deliver its reform plans in that review. It also says the business retail market should work well for businesses, welcomes the planned end of falling block tariffs (discounts for using more water) by March 2030, and promises a supplier of last resort so businesses are protected if their retailer leaves the market unexpectedly.
When the letter itself is published, we will check it against this post and update it.
What it means for a small business in England
Since the Water Act 2014, business, charity and public sector customers in England can choose who bills them for water and sewerage. Your retailer handles the bill, but the regional water company still supplies the water and treats the wastewater, and its wholesale charges are set under Ofwat's price controls. So a change to how the next price review is run reaches business bills as well as household ones, though not before 2030, when the PR29 limits begin.
For your carbon report, bills going up or down changes nothing as long as you report from the volume on the bill. Water is Scope 3: mains water supply in category 1 (purchased goods and services) at 0.1913 kg CO2e per cubic metre, and wastewater treatment in category 5 (waste generated in operations) at 0.17088 kg CO2e per cubic metre, at the 2026 UK government factors.
A worked example. A small business using 1,000 m³ of mains water a year, with wastewater at 95% of that (950 m³), has 191 kg CO2e from supply and 162 kg CO2e from treatment: 0.35 tonnes CO2e in all. Cutting use by a tenth saves about 35 kg CO2e a year. Small, but the same cubic metres are the figure your water efficiency plan and any drought planning start from.
If you only have the pounds, a spend-based estimate turns a price rise into a rise in emissions, even if you used the same amount of water. That is the main reason to keep cubic metres while bills are in the news.
Какво да направите сега
- Pull a year of water bills and note the cubic metres. Use the volume of water supplied, and the wastewater figure if your bill shows one. If it doesn't, use about 95% of the water supplied.
- Check your tariff. If you are a large user on a falling block tariff, the white paper says these are planned to end by March 2030, so it is worth asking your retailer what that means for you.
- Cut leaks and waste. Read your meter when nothing should be running. With parts of England in drought, our posts on the drought running into 2027 and the ministerial direction on water supply cover what that means for businesses.
- Wait for the letter. Until Defra or Ofwat publishes it, don't change budgets or contracts on the strength of a news report.
