Depiction of Water

Water

Protecting precious resources

Deep and complex questions face the water sector—from ownership to regulation, and compliance to competition. Climate change and population growth will only make the resilience and longer-term sustainability of our limited water supplies more crucial.

Companies are also increasingly setting out their corporate purpose, and seeking to align their activities with this purpose to maintain their various forms of capital.

Our water experts have amassed decades of experience helping organisations to understand these sectoral and regulatory issues and chart a course towards successful outcomes.

We’re a leading voice in the industry throughout Europe—advising companies, regulators, governments, investors, and infrastructure providers on a broad range of issues.

The best approach for business

To help you comply with high-level regulatory principles, we can advise on your business strategy, providing a robust economic framework to convert principles into practical decisions.

Our experts can help by reviewing or helping you to prepare your business plan and other regulatory submissions, conducting analysis to provide robust supporting evidence, and providing assistance should you decide to appeal against a regulator’s settlement.

We also advise on competition economics, retail tariffs and margins, developer services charging and access pricing, and disputes, mergers, and acquisitions.

If you’re looking to acquire or divest water assets, we can help you to navigate the regulatory regime and developments, as well as to understand value creation and future risk.

Recommendations for regulators

Just as we advise water companies, we also offer regulators support when they need to develop or modify regulatory frameworks.

Our expertise includes:

  • assessing and challenging company plans
  • applying early-stage thinking to regulatory frameworks and incentive design
  • managing regulatory finance
  • conducting efficiency and performance analysis
  • analysis in the context of pricing disputes

Meanwhile, competition authorities look to us for water-sector expertise while handling pricing disputes.

Stay ahead of change

The water sector isn’t static, and neither are regulation or legislation. Rest assured that our water experts keep on top of it all, helping you to anticipate and engage with regulatory reform and market developments.

With an eye on the future, we examine changes to the regulatory regime and predict the likely responses of companies, investors and consumers.

We provide training and workshop facilitation to water companies, regulators, and other interested parties to ensure that you can be prepared—whenever change comes your way.

The Oxera team showed wide-ranging competencies (from economic regulation to financial analysis), professionalism and client focus. As a part of Publiacqua’s team, Oxera has therefore successfully represented the company’s credibility and solidity.

- Domenico Lenzi, CFO, Publiacqua

Water Insights

Using economics in competition cases

How can economics tools support me in competition cases? For more than 20 years, our training course has helped participants gain the confidence to judge and rely on economic arguments and evidence put forward in a case. Previous attendees have included practitioners, in-house lawyers faced with an inquiry, and senior… Read More

Image depicting Using economics in competition cases