Regulatory Economist

OFWAT; London; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 70,000

Job description

Join Ofwat’s Cost Assessment Team in Price Review as a Regulatory Economist

*Office Location: Birmingham (B5 4UA) or London (E14 4HD) with hybrid working*

About Us

We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. Our work has genuine significance – no other organisation does the work we do. It’s unique and meaningful: keeping our water flowing; ensuring water bills don’t cost a penny more than needed; holding water companies to account. Come and work at the source of everyday life.

The Role

The cost assessment team is key to the delivery of PR24. We are an enthusiastic mix of economists and technical water and wastewater specialists that lead on the assessment of efficient expenditure for the next price review.

Water companies have historically spent around £10 billion per year in real terms, which directly impacts customer bills. Setting efficient expenditure allowances helps to protect customers from paying more than they should for their water and wastewater services. Our approach to setting efficient expenditure allowances at PR24 is outlined in Appendix 9 of our final methodology. There are three sub-teams within the PR24 cost assessment team:

• Setting efficient base expenditure allowances
• Setting efficient enhancement expenditure allowances
• Designing price control deliverables (PCDs) and monitoring delivery

You will work within the enhancement and PCD teams. The role will involve working with other economists and engineers to continue developing our PCD policy and our approach to holding companies to account. Given the significant step up in investment in the sector in the coming years, this is an exciting time to join the Cost Assessment team.

About You

Below are some of the key essential experience, skills & knowledge required for this post:

• Undergraduate degree in economics or another numerate discipline.
• Experience in applying economics or analytical techniques in a regulation or competition authority; or commercial setting, such as consultancy or a regulated company.
• Experience of working effectively and collaboratively with a range of internal and external stakeholders.
• Experience in using data tools like Excel to validate and analyse data to inform robust policy decisions.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to understand and concisely explain complex issues in non-technical language.
• Understanding of the impact of incentives on company behaviour.

Why You Should Join Us:

• Meaningful Impact: You will be joining a team with a sense of mission at its core aiming to build a lasting legacy for future generations by securing our long-term water resilience.
• Innovative Work Environment: We embrace agile and new ways of working and have a culture built on trust, flexibility, and collaboration.
• Development Opportunities: Gain valuable experience and develop your skills in a supportive and dynamic setting.
• Work-Life Balance: Enjoy the flexibility of working from home combined with the benefits of in-person collaboration in our London or Birmingham offices.
• Fantastic employer pension contribution of nearly 30%.
• 25 days’ annual leave, increasing to 30 with each year of service, plus bank holidays and an extra 2.5 days of privilege leave.
• Access to exclusive discounts on a variety of goods and services, including retail outlets, theatre tickets, holidays, insurance, and a gym membership.
• Fees paid for membership of relevant professional bodies.
• Up to 3 volunteering days per year.
• Recognition vouchers scheme rewarding your hard work.
• Generous shared parental leave and pay supporting your family life.

Closing date: 23.55 on 17 April 2025