Financial Economist

Requirements of the role

We have an opportunity for a Financial Economist to join our Risk and Return Team within the Price Review Directorate.

The Risk and Return Team is part of the Price Review (PR24) Directorate. The team plays a crucial part in the delivery of Ofwat’s strategy, which sets agreed, funded deliverables and performance incentives 2025-2030 for water companies.

Our aim for PR24 is to align the interests of companies and investors with those of customers, so that the sector is attractive to investors – and companies can only earn high returns from great performance.

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales.

You can find out more about why you should join Ofwat, our strategy, values and our framework for success in the attached Information for Candidates Pack.

Job description
The Role

We are looking for a Financial Economist to join our Risk and Return team. You will initially join the Allowed return on capital workstream, supporting work concerning the allowed return on equity.

In February several companies asked us to refer our PR24 determinations to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for a redetermination, a process that could potentially last until March 2026. All companies have challenged our approach to setting the allowed return on equity. The successful candidate will therefore initially support Ofwat in making representations to the CMA to support our position, responding to its enquiries, and in considering its redetermined proposals.

The role will be impactful. The allowed return is responsible for approximately a quarter of the average water bill; thus fractions of a percentage point can have an impact of hundreds of millions of pounds. In addition, the results of the CMA appeals process are likely to have important repercussions to the way the allowed return is set in other economically regulated sectors (e.g. energy, telecoms, and aviation).

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