On 7 March 2025, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) delivered its Judgment on Professor Carolyn Roberts’ applications to bring competition claims against six water companies: Thames Water, Yorkshire Water, Anglian Water, Severn Trent, Northumbrian Water and United Utilities. The claims alleged that the companies misreported sewage spills to the Environment Agency and Ofwat leading to customers being charged higher prices.
The Tribunal determined that the proposed claims satisfied the certification requirements, rejecting the water companies’ objections as to the same. It further held that Professor Roberts was a suitably qualified class representative, that her legal team was well-structured and adequately funded plan to pursue the claims, and that the case is appropriate for opt-out proceedings, which would provide “significant benefits” to affected customers. The Tribunal also held that misleading a public authority may constitute an abuse of dominance under competition law and dismissed the water companies’ arguments that competition law does not apply to monopoly water companies, describing this position as “problematic and unsatisfactory”.
However, the Tribunal decided that the proposed claims could not proceed to trial because they were precluded by operation of section 18(8) of the Water Industry Act 1991 (“WIA”). The Tribunal found that the alleged failure of the water companies to supply accurate information for the purposes of the statutory price control regime constituted an essential ingredient of the claim under the WIA and the claim was therefore ousted by section 18(8) WIA. The Tribunal noted that, had the claims not been excluded by this statutory provision, it would have granted collective proceedings orders in each case.
The Judgment is available here.
Lucinda Cunningham, instructed by RPC, represented Professor Roberts at the certification hearing (funded by Bench Walk Advisors).
Other Matrix members instructed by Professor Roberts in these proceedings include: Rhodri Thompson KC and Christopher Brown.