Guidance for water companies acceptability and affordability of PR24 business plans

Affordability and Acceptability: testing engagement with information Ofwat and CCW have been working together with water companies and key stakeholders to develop guidance for how companies can conduct customer affordability and acceptability testing of their business plans for the next price review (PR24). The key aims of the guidance is to ensure that research is undertaken in a way that is meaningful for customers to participate in and that the research is undertaken in a consistent and comparable manner across England and Wales.

This aligns with our objectives for PR24 where we clearly set the expectation that companies need to understand the needs and expectations of their customers to make sure that the price review delivers against this.

We worked with a number of experts in research and communications to create this guidance, and we tested aspects of the proposals with customers.

Over the coming months, we will work with Independent Challenge Groups, the Challenge Coordination Group, and companies to ensure that the guidance is incorporated into all PR24 affordability and acceptability research.