Minutes of an additional board meeting of the Water Industry Commission for Scotland on 30 January 2024

Present:

Donald MacRae (Chair) 
Jo Armstrong (Member) - joined at 11:40AM   
Ann Allen (Member)  
Robin McGill (Member) 
                  
In attendance:

David Satti, Director of Strategy 
Andrea Mancini, Director of Price Review 
Donna Very, Director of Corporate and International Affairs 
Colin McNaughton, Director of Analysis 
Michelle Ashford, Chief Operating Officer

Chair’s opening remarks

The Chair thanked Members for attending this additional board meeting to consider Scottish Water’s 2024-25 charges scheme. 

1.    Apologies for absence

There were no apologies.   

1.1    Declaration of conflicts of interest in relation to the agenda

No members declared any conflict of interest in relation to the agenda.

2.    Charges Scheme 2024-25

The Director of Price Review provided an overview of Scottish Water’s charges scheme for 2024-25, the process for approving annual charges and WICS’s role: 

• WICS’ determination set an overall price cap of CPI+12.6% for the 2021-27 regulatory control period. The determination provided Scottish Water with the flexibility around the annual phasing of charging increases.  
• Scottish Water must submit a scheme of charges to WICS for approval each year. The Board may approve the charges scheme with or without amendments.  
• Scottish Water has proposed an 8.8% nominal uplift in primary charges for both household customers and Licensed Providers for the 2024-25 financial year. 

The Director of Price Review explained that our analysts have now completed the necessary checks and audits and is satisfied that Scottish Water Scheme of Charges is consistent with the Determination. He assured Members that there is a robust audit process in place to review these proposals.

He noted that Scottish Water has to date, recovered less revenue than the level allowed for in the determination and plans to uplift the revenue to the amount set out in the determination by the end of period.

Board Members discussed and requested that the office clarifies in its response to Scottish Water that the board has only approved the 2024-25 charges scheme and that Scottish Water’s pricing plan for the remainder of the regulatory period would still leave an investment shortfall relative to the level set out in the Final Determination.

The Board was content to approve the 2024-25 charges scheme on this basis and the Chair asked the executive team to share the final response with him before issuing to Scottish Water.

WICS will also make the necessary adjustments to the default tariffs for the 2024-25 financial year for non-household customers. Consistent with previous published decisions, the adjustment will mirror the uplift to wholesale charges to retain the same percentage margin in the market.

Finally, the Board noted that we may expect some media coverage relating to Scottish Water’s charges scheme in the coming days.  

Meeting close 

The Chair closed the meeting and thanked Board Members and senior leadership team for their contributions.