Our Core Businesses
South West Water
Overview
South West Water is the licensed water and sewerage service provider for Devon, Cornwall and parts of Dorset and Somerset. The company serves a region of nearly 10,300 square kilometres with over 1.67 million residents. On average each day it distributes over 420 Megalitres (Ml) of treated water and disposes of around 235 Ml of waste water through an asset base comprising:
| Sewers | 14,710km |
| Water mains | 15,146km |
| Waste water treatment works | 645 |
| Drinking water treatment works | 39 |
Since privatisation in 1989 the company has successfully delivered the largest capital programme per capita of any of the water and sewerage companies with an initial focus on improving coastal waste water treatment and disposal. The region currently has 144 EU designated bathing waters, almost one third of the total in England and Wales, and 132 of these have benefited from the company's marine investment programme. Following completion of an entire overhaul of water resources, water treatment and distribution over the same period we are able to demonstrate major improvements in water supply quality and reliability for our customers.
The company's vision of 'Pure Water, Pure Service and Pure Environment' represents our ongoing ambition to achieve and sustain the highest standards possible in every sphere of our activity. We see innovation and forward-thinking investment as key to our long-term success and we remain committed to a strategy that values our business, our customers and the world around us in equal measure.
South West Water expects to create value through delivering the regulatory contract agreed with Ofwat. The contract scope is reviewed every five years. As well as determining outputs, Ofwat sets prices to enable efficient companies to earn a reasonable rate of return on their assets.
For the regulatory period which started in April 2010 Ofwat assumed that the equity cost of capital for all companies will be 7.1% real after tax with an overall weighted average cost of capital of 4.5% real after tax.
Page last updated: June 2012
