Supreme Court grants permission to appeal in Water Cases collective actions

The UK Supreme Court has granted permission for Professor Carolyn Roberts to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision that had prevented her collective competition claims against six UK water companies from proceeding. This is a significant development in the UK's first environmental competition class action.

Commenting on the decision, Professor Carolyn Roberts said: "The decision means the application of a statutory bar preventing me from bringing these important collective action claims on behalf of millions of households will now be considered by the UK's highest court. I am very grateful that permission to appeal has been granted, and I am pleased to share that we will move forward in our mission to ensure water companies are held to account and millions of consumers can recover the sums they should never have been charged. I brought these claims with deep concern that our waterways have been polluted, while households have continued to be overcharged for the sewerage services they rely on."

Zoë Mernick-Levene, Partner at RPC, who is leading the case, added: "The Supreme Court granting permission to appeal is an important step for the UK's first environmental competition collective action. The Water Cases raise issues of real significance for consumers in markets characterised by natural monopoly, and for the application of competition law where there are allegations of misleading regulators with consequential harm to customers. The decisions of the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal pointed to a lacuna in the law whereby water companies can be shielded from legitimate and important claims that the Tribunal would otherwise have certified, leaving consumers with no right to recourse or remedy via the courts or via regulators. We look forward to progressing the appeal and if we can overturn the majority's judgment, go on to win compensation for the customers who have been harmed by the defendants' wrongdoing."

Professor Roberts alleges that the defendant water companies have breached UK competition law by abusing their positions as dominant suppliers within their appointed areas – where water and sewerage services are natural monopolies and water is a basic necessity – by misleading their regulators, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) and the Environment Agency. The claims centre on allegations that the companies under reported and misreported pollution incidents on their networks, which in turn led to higher regulatory allowances and inflated prices for customers, who had no alternative provider and no choice but to pay. As these are opt-out claims, the affected household customers will not need to actively do anything to join the claims, until the cases are successful.

The water companies subject to the claims are:
• Anglian Water Services Ltd
• Northumbrian Water Ltd
• Severn Trent Water Ltd
• Thames Water Utilities Ltd
• United Utilities Water Ltd
• Yorkshire Water Services Ltd

The RPC team representing Professor Carolyn Roberts is led by Partners Zoë Mernick-Levene and Jonathan Cary.

RPC's expert ESG practice supports clients in navigating the increasing legal, regulatory and reputational risks arising from environmental impact, governance standards and social responsibility. The firm's Competition practice has extensive experience in collective actions, complex investigations and cross-border litigation with teams on the ground in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, and operating across over 200 jurisdictions.