Member

Rather than calling offending organisations to account, Ofwat is now understood to be considering cutting fines for sewage-dumping water companies if they are facing financial pressures. Is it a guiding requirement for a regulator that, if somebody is offending but somehow cannot pay, they should not be punished? Is that the principle adopted by magistrates and judges in courts? It is not, and yet it is the principle adopted by this regulator. Light-touch regulation will not help to secure better practices, especially as there is hardly any direct representation of stakeholder interests—by that I mean consumers’ and employees’ interests—by Ofwat.