WICS Duties

The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS) was formed on 1 July 2005 under the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005

Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005

Our statutory duties are to:

  • promote the interests of Scottish Water’s customers, having regard to the interests of current and future customers;
  • ensure that customer charges reflect the lowest reasonable overall cost for Scottish Water to deliver the Scottish Ministers’ Objectives for the water sector;
  • comment on Scottish Water’s reporting of its performance, challenging Scottish Water to become more efficient and sustainable; and
  • facilitate the entry of retail water and sewerage providers that wish to supply non-household customers in Scotland.

We also support the Scottish Government’s vision of ensuring that Scotland is a Hydro Nation. In doing so we meet our obligations under the Water Resource Act 2013.

WICS’s strategy

The WICS Board agreed a new strategy for our work in 2019.

The revised strategy acknowledged the substantial value to be gained from adopting flexible, transparent and collaborative ways of working and making decisions. 

Our strategy takes into account the challenges the sector faces. These include the need to transition to net zero emissions by 2040 and to maintain service levels in the future. This will require Scottish Water to repair, refurbish and replace its assets in a timely way.

In our strategy there are three strategic objectives directing all of the work of our office.  Our strategic objectives are to:

1. Support the sector to achieve its long-term vision and the Scottish Ministers’ Objectives for the regulatory control period.

2. Challenge Scottish Water to achieve best in class levels of service for its customers and communities.

3. Become an international leader in the field of economic regulation.

We will report on our performance in delivering the strategic objectives in our annual reports. Our corporate plan provides more detailed information about the objectives.

Read the plan

Was this information useful to you?
 

Any feedback you provide will be considered for future improvements. Please avoid providing personal information here. We don’t respond to individual comments, but you can contact us if you have a specific query.