From April 2017, the business retail water market in England will open. If you are an eligible business, charity or public sector organisation, this means that you will be able to:
· renegotiate with your current water and wastewater retailer;
· shop around among a range of retailers for your retail services; or
· become licensed yourself to self-supply your services.
The business retail market is expected to deliver over £200m of benefits to the UK economy
Switching, renegotiating or become licensed to self-supply could help customers to:
· save money;
· receive a better quality of service, and
· save water through increased water efficiency.
Competition is likely to drive suppliers to offer more tailored and innovative services better suited to customers' needs
· Small and medium-sized businesses could benchmark themselves against other similar businesses to identify savings.
· If a customer has multiple premises across England, they will be able to switch all of their premises to the same supplier and receive a single, combined bill, rather than one per premise
· Some customers may prefer to have a multi-utility bundle across energy, water and other services.
We have learned lessons from other markets, such as energy and financial services, and put in place a strong framework to support the market.
· We worked with the UK Government and the market operator (MOSL) to put arrangements to ensure the market works well for customers when it opens.
· We have raising eligible customers' awareness of the new market so eligible customers understand the opportunities available to them and where they can go for further information.
· We have protected customers that don’t want to switch with a time-limited standard 'default’ tariff.
· We have put in place codes of conduct to ensure retailers and third parties like switching website treat customers fairly.
· We have developed a strategy for complaints and disputes that is based on only stepping in where necessary – and using our full range of tools to make corrections to the market.
· We have developed guidance to allow the market participants understand how competition law will apply to them and encourage them to compete fairly.
· We have developed a strong market monitoring framework to ensure that we understand how the market is developing in a timely fashion, and to identify if and when we need to intervene to protect customers.
We will monitor the market closely to help customers and other stakeholders gain confidence
We be monitoring the market in three key areas.
· Market structure - such as the number of retailers and third parties, such as switching websites, in the market.
· Market conduct – such as the behaviour of market participants, whether customers are being treated fairly, and the quality of the switching processes.
· Market performance – such as how well customers are engaging with the market and the benefits they are gaining from it.
Monitoring these areas will allow us to see any issues that may come up – and step in if market participants are acting in a way that harms customers.
We will also be publishing regular information so that everyone trusts and has confidence in the market.
How you can get the latest information
You can get the latest information on our performance in our annual report and accounts.
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