Benefit Assessment: The Context
15th November 2003 publication
Publication by The Environment Agency. The periodic-review process requires a five-year cycle of fixing the capital investment
programme of the water industry. This programme is the outcome of considerations of the legal requirements (typically defined by EU directives), desirable environmental
improvements and the willingness of consumers to pay. Defra has the role of striking this balance in its guidance to the EA and Ofwat; the EA has the role of proposing the requirements; and Ofwat has the duty to set the prices and hence determine the functions that are to be financed.