Economist - Business Retail Market

Job summary We are Ofwat, the Water Services Regulation Authority, a non-ministerial government department responsible for regulating the water sector in England and Wales. We have an opportunity for an Economist to join our Business Retail MarketTeam within the Markets and Charging Directorate. The water sector is entering a new chapter. The government has set out a bold new direction, bringing together expertise from across the sector to deliver better outcomes for customers and the environment.

We are collaborating with fellow regulators to respond to recommendations in The Independent Water Commission Report , the Welsh Government’s response to the Green Paper , Shaping the Future of Water Governance in Wales , and the Government’s White Paper, A new vision for water . Ofwat is working with the government and other regulators to help create a new body for England, bringing together our strengths with those of the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the Environment Agency and Natural England.

We are also continuing to work with the Welsh Government to support decisions on the future arrangements for Wales. While these changes take shape, our mission remains the same: to hold water companies to account, drive performance, and ensure the sector delivers real value for customers, communities, and the environment. If you’re passionate about making a difference, this is a unique moment to join us and help shape the future of water, and together we can continue to make a positive impact.

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 We are seeking an Economist join our Business Retail Market team at Senior Associate level. The team has a multi-faceted programme of work aimed at improving the Business Retail Market so that it delivers better outcomes for customers, society, and the environment.

We aim to do this through setting initiatives on regulatory customer protections, improving company performance, and monitoring and enforcement work, and working with industry to identify and implement improvements to market functioning. All our work here involves extensive engagement with external stakeholders. Now is a particularly exciting time to join the team as we are at an important juncture in the development of the market – we have recently established revised customer protections.

Work is underway to improve supplier of last resort arrangements in the market and to review retail price caps for the Business Retail Market. We are also stepping up our market monitoring and work to ensure companies comply with their obligations with respect to customer protections. This role has an important and valuable contribution to enable us to deliver on our goals and regulatory commitments.

As an Economist, you will lead or support projects across a range of impactful work areas. A key work strand will be our review of price cap restraints, including cost assessment and benchmarking work, where you will help drive a number of workstreams and provide support for others. Your role will also include developing our further understanding of the development of competition in the market and how it is delivering for customers alongside monitoring company compliance with market codes.

This will involve analysing company and market performance data for the water industry and other comparator sectors. As you will be part of a small and dynamic team, you will enjoy the flexibility of contributing to various functions across the team relating to the Business Retail Market. Your role will also involve high levels of stakeholder engagement, where you will represent Ofwat on industry Committees and Working Groups as appropriate.

Key deliverables: In this role you will be expected to: Contribute to work for reviewing the impact of retail price caps, taking responsibility for the successful development of policy proposals, to include: Analyse an