Portrait of Christopher Davis

Christopher Davis Partner

Chris is Head of Oxera’s Water practice and specialises in the economics of regulation and regulatory finance. Since joining Oxera in 2011, he has advised clients on all aspects of regulation, including market power assessments, customer engagement, capital expenditure, efficiency, the cost of capital, financeability, cost allocation, regulatory risk, incentive frameworks and outperformance sharing.

Chris has provided support on regulatory and strategic issues to clients in the air traffic control, airport, energy, rail, road, sports, telecoms, and water sectors. He has direct experience of working in Planning and Regulation teams and providing executive-level advice on regulatory strategy.

In the water sector, Chris has advised clients including Anglian Water, Bristol Water, Ofwat, South West Water, South Staffordshire Water, Thames Water, Water UK, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland, and Yorkshire Water.

He has directed numerous projects in the sports sector, including advising the UK government on the establishment of the Independent Football Regulator to oversee the top five divisions of men’s professional football in England.

Chris coordinates Oxera’s Regulation and Market Design Centre of Excellence and is the course lead for Oxera’s biannual Utility Regulation courses, on which he regularly presents a number of sessions. He has published research papers on the regulation of highways companies across Europe, and approaches to funding and regulating capital expenditure.

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6607

Christopher's specialisms include:

Selected
professional experience

  • Developed several position papers alongside Anglian Water for submission to Defra in relation to the Water White Paper and transition plan (2025–26)

  • Directed Oxera’s advice to the Independent Football Regulator on regulatory design issues, the regulator’s first organisational strategy, and the State of the Game study (2025–26)

  • Directed Oxera’s advice to Water UK on the Independent Water Commission’s review of the regulatory system (2025) and advised on the investability of Ofwat’s PR24 Draft Determinations (2024–25)

  • Advice to the Department for Culture Media and Sport on the establishment of an independent regulator for English football (2022–25)

  • Directed Oxera’s regulatory due diligence support to Thames Water during its recapitalisation process (2024) and to a potential investor in Southern Water (2025)

  • Advice to several companies, including Anglian Water, Pennon (South West/Bristol), South Staffordshire Water and Yorkshire Water on PR24 issues (2022–25)

Selected
publications

  • Davis, C. and Granatstein, M. (2016), ‘Funding large transport infrastructure projects: Challenges, Risks and Opportunities’, European Transport Conference 2016 Proceedings, Association for European Transport, October.

  • Davis, C., Dufour, A. and Perna, P. (2016), ‘Roads funding and regulation in England, France and Italy: an international comparison’, European Transport Conference 2016 Proceedings, Association for European Transport, October.

  • Davis, C., Meaney, A. and Gudgeon, L. (2014), ‘Ensuring Value for Money from Rail Franchise Margins’, European Transport Conference 2014 Proceedings, Association for European Transport, September.

Qualifications

  • BA (Hons), Economics and Management, University of Oxford

Latest Insights:  Christopher Davis

Back to top