PC21 mid-term review

Northern Ireland Water (NI Water) is currently in its fourth price control period, PC21.  This covers the six-year period from April 2021 to March 2027. 

PC21 is the second of our longer duration price controls and whilst this provides benefits in terms of providing extra time for efficient planning and delivery, it also introduces a degree of uncertainty associated with planning over the long term.

We therefore included the provision for a mid-term review during PC21 to provide an opportunity for any material changes associated with the uncertainty that existed at the time of the PC21 Final Determination to be considered.

We published a document explaining our approach to the PC21 mid-term review on 15 May 2023.  This built upon the outline proposals included in our PC21 final determination and outlined the extent and scope of the work that would be undertaken through reference to specific elements of our price control.  It was informed by the responses that we received following a period of consultation on our draft proposals, which were published on 27 March 2023.

We received NI Water’s PC21 mid-term review submission on 29 September 2023 and after completing an assessment of the submission, published our draft determination on 2 May 2024.

This proposes, amongst other things:

  • Some limited adjustments to output targets.
  • An average tariff increase of 4.6% for non-domestic consumers in each of the last two years of the PC21 period to mitigate against an unprecedented increase in NI Water’s power costs.
  • A capital allowance of c£2.4bn in ‘money of the day’ prices (nominal) for the full price control period to maintain existing services and deliver the upgrades required to meet its quality, environmental and service level obligations. 

The consultation on our draft determination closed on 27 June 2024 and we received responses from NI Water, Consumer Council for Northern Ireland, Drinking Water Inspectorate, Northern Ireland Environment Agency and Ulster Farmers Union. 

We will carefully consider the comments contained within these responses as we complete our final determination, which we intend to publish in Autumn 2024.