Ian Byatt
According to his Frontier Economics profile he ‘Was the England and Wales water regulator between 1989 and 2000. He oversaw the privatisation of the England and Wales water sector and established a successful regulatory regime for the only completely privatised water and waste water industry in the world. He was responsible for two fundamental periodic reviews of all functions and price controls for water companies. Ian also has extensive experience of providing economic advice to the Government at the highest level. Prior to becoming the water regulator, he held the position of Deputy Chief Economic Adviser to the Treasury, Head of Public Sector Economic Unit in the Treasury and was Director of Economics in the Department of the Environment’<ref> Sir Ian Byatt Biography on Frontier Economics [1], Accessed 7th August 2008 <ref>.
In his role at the Office of Water Services, OFWAT, between 1989 and 2000 he was responsible for independent economic regulation of the water companies in England & Wales. Since 2000 he has advised the World Bank and governments around the world on matters relating to (privatising) the water industry. Sir Ian was an adviser to the Water Industry Commissioner from 2002 before being appointed Chairman of the Commission in 2005. In a Paper he wrote Sir Ian Byatt argued for an increase in competition and a decrease in detailed regulation. He stated ‘It is difficult to predict how fast competition will develop in the water industry. But it can be expected to strengthen the position of the customer. And in the presence of competition, it will be much more difficult for regulators and government to manage the details and the operations of the water companies. This would be very welcome’. It is somewhat concerning for water customers in Scotland to have a regulator who wants to regulate less.
Sir Ian Byatt is also a council member of the European Policy Forum (EPF) which attempts to generate market ideas for public policy. He spoke at an EPF meeting in February this year alongside the chairman of OFWAT, Phillip Fletcher. The title of his talk was ‘Has everything changed in Water’ . He also wrote the EPF paper titled ‘Do the Taps need changing’, arguing that water companies in England and Wales need to replicate the Scottish model in the non-domestic sector of splitting network and retail supply. He has also authored a report in 2005, on behalf of the European Policy Forum, calling for no dilution of the EU Services Directive in order to ensure that public services were opened up to competition and (so-called) customer choice. He is also a member of the Public Service Productivity Panel instigated by the Treasury .
