From the Water White Paper to AMP8: Delivering Resilience, Renewables and Price Stability in the Water Sector

The UK water sector is entering what may be the most significant period of reform since privatisation.

Recent policy signals, including the Government’s Water White Paper, A New Vision for Water, and the Independent Water Commission review chaired by Jon Cunliffe, point in the same direction. The sector must improve long-term resilience, accelerate environmental progress and deliver better value for customers.

Together, these initiatives set a clear expectation: water companies must strengthen the reliability of essential services while maintaining affordability.

For the industry, much of this challenge will now be delivered through AMP8.

The AMP8 Reality: More Investment, Less Headroom

Water companies face an unprecedented delivery challenge.

Industry estimates suggest the sector may require around £300 billion of investment over the next 25 years to secure water supplies, improve environmental performance, and modernise ageing infrastructure.

At the same time, regulators expect companies to:

• strengthen operational resilience
• accelerate environmental improvements
• limit the impact on customer bills
• move more rapidly toward net zero

In simple terms, the sector must deliver more outcomes while managing costs more carefully than ever before.

One of the most important, yet often overlooked, levers in achieving this balance is energy.

Energy: A Growing Strategic Risk

Water and wastewater services rely heavily on electricity. Pumps, treatment processes and distribution systems all require continuous power, and at large treatment works, electricity can account for 20–40% of operating costs.

Utilities are also facing increasing exposure to:

• electricity price volatility
• grid reliability risks
• rising decarbonisation expectations

Recent operational disruptions linked to power interruptions highlight how closely energy resilience and water service resilience have become connected.

As water infrastructure becomes more digital and electrified, a reliable energy supply is becoming a critical part of system resilience.

Why Decentralised Energy Is Gaining Momentum

Across infrastructure sectors, operators are increasingly exploring decentralised energy solutions to improve resilience and manage energy costs.

Combining on-site solar generation with battery energy storage systems (BESS) can help organisations:

• maintain operations during grid disruption
• reduce reliance on carbon-intensive electricity
• protect against wholesale price volatility

However, large capital programmes already planned for AMP8 mean energy projects can struggle to compete for funding alongside environmental improvements, network upgrades and water resource schemes.

This is where alternative delivery models are becoming increasingly important.

How Wattstor’s Price-Protected Model Supports AMP8

Wattstor enables water companies to deploy solar generation and battery storage without committing significant upfront capital.

Under Wattstor’s Price Protect agreements, the company designs, finances, installs and operates renewable generation and battery storage systems on site. The water company then purchases energy at a predictable long-term price, typically through fixed or indexed agreements.

This model can support several of the priorities emerging from sector reform.

Strengthening Operational Resilience

Battery storage can provide rapid backup power, helping treatment works and pumping stations continue operating during grid disturbances.

For critical assets, this additional energy security can reduce the likelihood of service interruptions linked to external power failures.

Providing Energy Cost Certainty

Electricity price volatility has become a major challenge for infrastructure operators.

Price-protected agreements allow utilities to lock in predictable energy costs, improving financial planning and reducing exposure to market shocks.

In a regulatory environment focused on customer affordability, this cost certainty becomes particularly valuable.

Supporting Decarbonisation

Solar generation reduces dependence on grid electricity and lowers operational emissions.

Battery storage can also help optimise energy use across sites, enabling water companies to make better use of renewable generation while reducing peak demand costs.

Enabling Capital-Efficient Delivery

Perhaps most importantly for AMP8, Wattstor’s model allows utilities to strengthen energy resilience and decarbonisation without competing for capital within regulated investment programmes.

By transferring responsibility for energy infrastructure investment and performance to a specialist provider, water companies can focus their capital budgets on core water and wastewater assets.

Turning Policy Ambition into Delivery

The Water White Paper and the Cunliffe Review both signal a clear shift in expectations for the sector. Companies must deliver stronger infrastructure resilience, improved environmental outcomes and better value for customers.

Achieving these goals will require not only investment in traditional water assets but also new approaches to supporting infrastructure, such as energy.

Solutions that combine renewable generation, battery storage and long-term price certainty offer a practical way to deliver resilience, decarbonisation and affordability simultaneously.

As AMP8 begins, approaches like this could play an important role in helping water companies translate policy ambition into operational delivery.