This week, we received Ofwat's first view on our plans for 2025-30.

We are pleased that they found our plans to be robust in quality and also stretching in ambition, which is testament to the effort of our teams and the support of our customers in developing the plans together over the last two years.

We remain committed to delivering for our customers and the environment, now and in the future. Ofwat have allowed us the majority of our funding requirements to do this, and we welcome the measures they have put in place to protect customers, ensuring that we deliver on our commitments.

Managing Director, Andy Willicott, said: “We are proud of the plan we have submitted, and pleased that Ofwat have broadly allowed us sufficient funding to deliver on our ambition. We recognise that to do this we must raise customer bills, and want to assure customers that we have a number of mechanisms in place to protect those who may struggle to accommodate this increase."

Customers who feel they need support can speak to our expert team, who will talk them through the available options. These include special tariffs, easier ways to pay, and even payment breaks for that short-term help when you need more direct support.

As we move towards our next five-year planning period, we are looking to the future and committed to exceeding customers’ expectations of our service, ending water poverty and making sure help is always available to those customers who need it.

Our teams will continue to review Ofwat's appraisal of our plan, and will make any representations where we feel the allowances do not enable us to deliver on our customer promises.