"La regolazione del servizio idrico integrato: il quadro italiano ed europeo"

1. Institutional presentation
Andrea Guerrini
Arera Commissioner
Wareg President
Water innovation summit 2023
Bari-21.6.2023

2. ➢ Established in 2014 (Milan, Brussels)
➢ No-profit association of national & regional
Public Authorities with supervising and/or
regulatory responsibilities in the dw & ww sectors.
➢ 24 Members + 8 Observers:
➢ 17 EU Member States + UK
➢ 5 EU Candidate Countries (recently Ukraine)
➢ 4 EU Neighbouring Policy Partners
➢ Members oversee +300 million consumers in EU
(+400 million including non-EU members &
observers)
A public perspective on European water services
2

3. What do water regulators do? Key competencies
3
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20

4. Key factors for an effective regulatory oversight:
financial & organizational autonomy
4
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
From regulated
companies
From licences,
administrative
fees, sanctions
From regional
budget
From State
budget
Main sources of funding
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18
STAFF RECRUITMENT PROCEDURES ARE
DEFINED AUTONOMOUSLY BY THE
REGULATORY BODY
REGULATORY BODY'S ORGANISATIONAL
CHART IS DESIGNED AUTONOMOUSLY BY
THE REGULATORY BODY
REGULATORY BODY AUTONOMOUSLY TAKE
DECISION ON FINAL APPOINTMENT OF
CANDIDATES EXAMINED
JOB POSITIONS ARE POSTED ON THE
WEBSITE OF THE REGULATORY BODY WHICH
IS RESPONSIBLE TO DEFINE THE SELECTION
PANEL
Organizational Autonomy

5. 4 years
10%
5 years
40%
6 years
20%
7 years
20%
Ministry (no
mandate)
10%
DURATION OF THE MANDATE OF THE
DECISION-MAKING BODY (I.E. BOARD,
COMMISSION, DIRECTOR, ETC.)
4 years
5 years
6 years
7 years
Ministry (no
mandate)
YES
74%
NO 10%
GOV APP
16%
Possibility to renew the
mandate
5
Accountability of Water Regulators
32%
21%
47%
Once their mandate has expired, can the members of the Decision-
Making Body accept jobs in the Government or in the Regulated
Industry?
Yes, without restrictions
Yes (provided that conflict of interests rules
are complied with and/or following
restrictions before leaving)
Yes, after cooling-off

6. EU Member States must
implement EU Directives into
their national legislative
framework...
Main legal framework on DW & WW in the EU
6
Drinking Water Quality & Risk
evaluation management
Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on the quality of
water intended for human consumption
Quality of ww treatment & collection
Directive 91/271/EEC (UWWTD). Currently
under revision
Water Framework
Directive
Directive 2000/60/EC
Fitness check 2018/2019
Water and sludge recovery and reuse
EU Regulation on water reuse 2020/741 of 25
May 2020
….national laws and by-laws
provide specific powers for local,
regional or national regulators,
to meet the targets of EU
Directives

7. What do we do?
Monitor and report on regulatory activities in Europe
• Surveys & data collection among WAREG Members
• Thematic Working Groups of Members & internal reports
• Collaboration with research Institutions (ex. EUI/FSR , Universities, etc.)
Promote Compliance with EU rules
• WAREG Office in Brussels & monitoring of EU water legislation
• Public position papers
• Participation in Horizon Europe Research Projects
Sharing Best Practices – Capacity Building
• Specialised training for civil servants
• Peer-reviews of tariff setting methodologies for Members
• Public reports and papers
Dissemination & Institutional Advocacy
• Multistakeholder dialogue - EFRWS
• Open dialogue with EU Institutions and European stakeholders associations
• Cooperation with International Organisations (ex. OECD, World Bank, etc.)

8. 8
Quality standards

9. 9
• Although investment have increased, tariffs
have decreased, because of operational costs
efficiency generated by tariff regulation
• Regulators in the EU, where they exist, can play
a significant role in setting targets for KPIs
Source: ARERA, 2022
The independent regulator for Energy, Networks and Environment (ARERA) has the powers to set national tariffs
(since 2012) and KPIs against pre-defined targets (introduced in 2018)
Investments

10. 10
M1 – WATER LOSSES M2 – SERVICE DISRUPTION M3 – WATER QUALITY
M4 – SEWAGE (FLOODINGS) M5 – SLUDGES M6 – WASTEWATER QUALITY
Italia: 40,7%
M2 [ore]
Italia: 40,25
Italia: 4,3 Italia: 8,5% Italia: 7,5%
(wastewater infrigment
rate)
(smaltimento in discarica)
(allagamenti)
(Losses %)
ARERA 2022
Italia: 3,68%
(interruzioni in h/year)
Water service divide

11. 11
Azores Portugal
Hungary Romania
Latvia Netherlands
Montenegro Denmark
Albania Kosovo
Bulgaria Lithunia
Ireland Scotland
Italy
England and Galles
Greece
Malta
Germany
North Macedonia
Belgium Flanders
Belgium Bruxelles
Sunshine regulation
.- Transparency/Accountability: broad category, which includes all modes of data publication, i.e. individual
managements; aggregations for the whole sector; comparisons between managements and clusters of
them.
- Sunshine regulation: publication of key indicators within the same medium (excel sheet, interactive
maps, periodic report), so that comparisons between different managements are immediate).
Monitoring
No
Pubblication
Aggregate
data
Data
by
operator
WAREG survey of 17
member countries of the
association and analysis
of 5 other European
countries
Sunshine regulation: a subset
of the accountability process
• Prevalence of countries
with analytical
publications by operator
• Publication of aggregate
data or lack of publication
is associated with only
monitoring of KPIs by the
regulator, if any
• Use of KPIs for economic
incentive purposes is
associated with sunshine
regulation
Monitoring with tariff impacts
Sunshine regulation

12. 12
Trasparency: tableau technical quality

13. www.wareg.org
secretariat@wareg.org
Headquarters : Piazza Cavour 5, Milan, Italy
Institutional Office: Avenue des Arts, 46/14, Brussels, Belgium
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Thanks for your attention!