Water

  • Water

    Water sector adapts quickly to COVID-19 crisis

    The GB water sector, like almost every sector in the UK, has not escaped from the pressures posed by the COVID-19 crisis. In this article, we present the approaches taken by the respective regulators in England & Wales (Ofwat) and in Scotland (WICS), and MOSL (the market operator for England...

  • Water

    Ofwat proposes widening retail margins from 2020

    Limits on the margin that water retailers may earn from their customers in the business market may be loosened from April 2020 under new proposals from the regulator. Ofwat issued a consultation on 11 December in which it set out plans that would see the cap on allowed margins for...

  • Business supply and services

    Flying too close to the sun – SoLR processes in water and energy blog

    Yesterday, Aquaflow Utilities entered administration and as a result exited the non-domestic water retail market in England & Wales. This is the first time an English water retailer has suffered an uncontrolled exit from the water market, but over the last 18 months 11 energy suppliers have exited the electricity...

  • Home supply and services

    Research Paper | Flying too close to the sun – SoLR processes in water and energy

    Water retailer Aquaflow Utilities will exit the non-domestic retail market in England & Wales and enter liquidation on 9 April. While the electricity and gas processes have been undertaken repeatedly over the past twelve months, this will be the first test of Ofwat and MOSL’s Supplier of Last Resort (SoLR)...

  • Water

    Innovation in the Retail Water Market

    Cornwall Insight has published a research paper, which is supported by Water Plus, where we discuss the results of our recent research into innovation in the market, informed by interviews with a mix of nine retailers, customers and third-party intermediaries (TPIs) representing a broad cross-section of the market. The liberalisation of the...

  • Water

    Water retail at risk of becoming a two-tier market

    Cornwall Insight has published a review of new products and service offerings in the recently opened business water market in its latest insight paper Innovation in the Water Retail Market: One Year On, supported by Water Plus. The paper highlights that although innovation is starting to occur progress is slow. Steven Britton,...

  • Water

    Ofwat proposes widening retail margins from 2020

    Limits on the margin that water retailers may earn from their customers in the business market may be loosened from April 2020 under new proposals from the regulator. Ofwat issued a consultation on 11 December in which it set out plans that would see the cap on allowed margins for...

  • Water

    Water companies unveil benefits for customers over next price control

    Since early this year there has been a lot of focus on the “legitimacy challenge” to the water industry: the question of whether or not the privatised profit-driven model of water companies that has been followed since 1989 is currently delivering for consumers. Leading the charge has been Jeremy Corbyn’s...

  • Water

    The flood gates open? – Water market switching reaches milestone

    The latest issue of Water Spectrum issued yesterday. It included analysis of MOSL’s latest switching data, which show that a year after business market opening in England, well over 100,000 supply points (4.6% by meters and 10.5% by volume of water) are no longer buying water and sewerage services from their incumbent....

  • Water

    Final methodology for tough new water price control contains few concessions

    Ofwat released the final version of its methodology for the 2019 price review (PR19) on 13 December, having published the draft for consultation in July. The water regulator has repeatedly touted each successive price control as being its toughest one yet, but they have usually turned out to be fairly...