Response to Thames Water Consultation on Water Resources Management Plan 2019

The authors welcome the opportunity to respond to Thames Water’s consultation on its Water Resources Management Plan 2019 (WRMP19). With the core theme of designing WRMP19 being securing a long-term balance between supply and demand thus implying improved drought resilience, Thames Water has proposed a preferred plan that in the short-term (AMP7) focuses on demand management (DM). As DM options typically require consumer engagement, this response comments on customer priorities and preferences as well as the DM options considered. This response has three sections: 1. comments on DM options as the short-term priority, 2. comments on customers’ views on water resource and DM options, and 3. specific comments on non-price behavioural interventions that are likely to conserve water.