Consumers could be allowed to attend water company board meetings under new rules proposed by the regulator.

Companies may survey and research customers to understand their views, involve them in decision-making and seek feedback on consumers’ experience.

Under the suggested reforms by regulator Ofwat, customer voices could be heard by making changes to a company’s governing body, the board of directors.

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The obligation to hear billpayers’ views could be met by boards allocating time for consumer matters, arranging for consumer experts to attend, holding open board meetings for the public, or by having an independent director with a consumer focus.

Boards could also comply by arranging for independent consumer experts, such as the Consumer Council for Water (CCW), to regularly attend.

Topics that consumers will have to be consulted on include the cost of bills, performance of key water services, support when things go wrong – like water outages – and the company’s investment priorities.

When decisions likely to materially impact consumers are made, the water company needs to have clear processes to ensure consumers are involved, Ofwat said.

As well as including water users in decision-making, utilities will have to work to understand how decisions impact consumers so those views are taken into account in future decisions.

Seeking this feedback must involve engaging with the new consumer panels being developed by the CCW to hold companies to account, Ofwat’s rules outline.

Why’s this being done?

It’s all part of the government’s aim to rebuild trust in the water sector and to improve accountability, transparency and performance in water firms.

The public has been outraged by record sewage outflows and polluted waterways at a time when senior executives are receiving bonuses and bills are rising.

New powers were granted to regulator Ofwat to clean up the sector, and rules on pay and bonuses were developed and took effect in June.

They’ve already been used to claw back bonuses.

What next?

Stakeholders have until 1 October to respond to the consultation, with Ofwat intending the rules take effect on existing water utilities in April.

Consultations already took place to make the suggested rules with 11,000 responses received from businesses, groups and individuals.

Not all of the replies made their way into the rules. The idea of having MPs and local authorities involved in decision-making, received from “several respondents”, appears not to have been included.

It comes despite the recent announcement of Ofwat being scrapped, as part of a once-in-a-generation review of the sector.

It and the other regulators are to be replaced by one single body.

Ofwat said it was working until new arrangements were in place and continuing to implement rules on remuneration and governance.

How’s it been received?

Environmental charity River Action said to rebuild trust in the industry, the government “needs to go a lot further than tinkering around the edges”.

“We need a complete overhaul of how water companies are owned, financed and governed. That means ending privatisation and instead operating for public benefit,” chief executive James Wallace said.

Industry group Water UK said: “It is important customers are involved in water companies’ decision-making.

“We will continue to work with government on these proposed rules and other vital reforms to secure our water supplies, support economic growth and end sewage entering our rivers and seas.”

Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire-hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior official.

Egyptian and Qatari mediators have been holding talks with Hamas in their latest effort to broker a ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

The Hamas official did not provide further details of the agreement or what had been accepted.

Hamas has responded positively to such deals in the past, while proposing amendments which have proved unacceptable to Israel.

Sky’s International Correspondent Diana Magnay in Jerusalem said the agreement appears to be similar to the plan put forward by Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a 60-day ceasefire deal.

“What we understand from Hamas, in relation to this deal, is that it would be within the 60-day ceasefire framework, but it would be a release of prisoners and detainees in two parts.

“What we understand from Arab channels is that Hamas agreed to it without major alterations,” she said.

An Egyptian official source told Reuters that, during the ceasefire, there would be an exchange of Palestinian prisoners in return for the release of half of the Israeli hostages held in Gaza.

There has been no word from Israel about the proposed ceasefire.

Diana Magnay said it is clear that mediators from Egypt and Qatar, potentially along with Hamas, felt under pressure because of Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to push further into Gaza City, “and that’s why you’ve had mediators over the weekend in Cairo trying to get some kind of plan on the table.”

“So the big question is, will Benjamin Netanyahu agree to this? We shall have to see whether it is his intention at any point to agree to a ceasefire or whether this is just too late now and he will use the opportunity to push on in Gaza,” she added.

Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump appeared to cast doubt on peace talks.

“We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” he posted on his Truth Social site.

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said mediators had been “exerting extensive efforts” to revive a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, during which hostages would be released and the sides would negotiate a lasting cessation of violence.

Health authorities in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll from 22 months of war has passed 62,000.

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