Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS)

WICS is the economic regulator of Scottish Water, the publicly owned provider of water and sewerage services across Scotland. Scottish Water serves over 2.5 million households and 150,000 businesses and has a turnover of £1.3bn.  

WICS is a non-departmental public body with statutory responsibilities. Our role is to challenge Scottish Water to achieve long-term value and provide best-in-class levels of service for its customers and communities. We also oversee the competitive retail market for non-household water and sewerage services in Scotland. 

WICS is a small team, working at the forefront of economic regulation, across 32 roles we employ economists, strategists, analysts, communicators and support staff.

Our statutory duties are set out in the Water Services etc. (Scotland) Act 2005:   

• promote the interests of Scottish Water’s customers and, in so doing, to have regard to the interests of future customers;  
• ensure that customer charges reflect the lowest reasonable overall cost for Scottish Water to deliver the Scottish Ministers’ Objectives;  
• comment on Scottish Water’s reporting of its performance, challenging Scottish Water to become more efficient and sustainable; and  
• facilitate the entry of retail water and sewerage providers that wish to supply non-household customers in Scotland.