It is essential that Scottish customers receive value for money from their water services provider. Our monitoring and reporting focuses on a number of areas:
We use a number of tools – including the contract that is agreed at each price review – to challenge Scottish Water to improve in each of these areas. We then monitor its performance to make sure that it responds positively to these challenges, and report each year on our findings.
The regulatory framework in Scotland is bringing clear benefits for customers. Average household bills in 2011-12 are around £30 lower than they are in England and Wales. Scottish Water is becoming more efficient – by reducing its running costs by almost 40% from their historic base, Scottish Water now operates as efficiently as the private water and sewerage companies in England and Wales. Customer service is improving too.