Final Business Plan

United Utilities Group PLC

7 April 2009

            UNITED UTILITIES WATER PLC FINAL BUSINESS PLAN 2010-15             

United Utilities Water PLC (UUW) has submitted its final water and wastewater
business plan covering the 2010-15 period to Ofwat, as part of the 2009 water
price review process.

Capital investment

The proposed 2010-15 capital investment programme aims to meet existing
standards of service, address higher quality standards and make provision for
the challenge of climate change, whilst maintaining the affordability of
customer bills.

The total proposed capital investment programme contained within the plan,
including infrastructure renewals expenditure, is approximately £3.7 billion
(2007/08 prices), comprising approximately £1.3 billion for the water service
and approximately £2.4 billion for the wastewater service.

Of the proposed £3.7 billion capital programme, investment to meet tighter
regulatory quality standards, enhance service to customers and maintain the
supply/demand balance is forecast at around £1.8 billion. The remainder of the
investment relates to maintenance of the company's substantial water and
wastewater assets and infrastructure.

Efficiency

UUW expects to improve its efficiency across the 2010-15 period. The company is
aiming for an annual improvement of 1.5% in its underlying operating
efficiency, although operating expenditure is likely to increase overall due to
cost pressures in areas such as property rates. UUW is also targeting an
improvement in efficiency of between 4% and 8%, across the five-year period, in
respect of its capital investment programme.

Return on capital

UUW estimates that to finance this plan an average real, fully post-tax return
of 4.85% is required, which it believes would support an A3 credit rating. This
compares with a cost of capital of 5.1% assumed by Ofwat at the last price
review in 2004, reflecting the reduction in the cost of debt finance available
to the water sector during the early part of the 2005-10 period. However, this
return represents an increase of approximately 0.2% compared with the required
return in the draft business plan, following the company's reassessment of its
financing costs in light of recent financial market conditions.

This reassessment is supported by NERA's recently updated independent research*
which has concluded that a higher cost of capital in the range of 4.6% to 5.1%
(fully post-tax, real) would be appropriate for the UK water industry. NERA
intends to reassess this cost of capital range later in the year.

Customer prices

To deliver this plan, UUW proposes an average annual real price increase of
1.8% across the five-year period. However, households are expected to see
average bills increase at a lower rate of approximately 1.4% in real terms on
average each year reflecting an expected increase in the number of connected
properties and the proportion of metered customers.

UUW's service currently costs households just under £1 per day on average. With
this plan, average household bills would increase to just over £1 per day in
real terms by 2015.

Next steps

The next stage of the price review process is publication of the draft
determination by Ofwat, expected in July 2009, with the final determination due
in November 2009.

This announcement and a summary of the final business plan can be viewed on
United Utilities' website at www.unitedutilities.com.

United Utilities' contacts

For further information please contact:

Philip Green, Chief Executive                          [phone]   
                                                                             
Tim Weller, Chief Financial Officer                    [phone]   
                                                                             
Gaynor Kenyon, Communications Director                 [phone]   
                                                                             
Darren Jameson, Head of Investor Relations             [phone]   
                                                                             
David Trenchard / Tom Murray, Tulchan Communications   [phone]  

Notes

* NERA Economic Consulting: "Cost of Capital for PR09 - A Final Report for
Water UK", January 2009.