Bristol Water boss would ‘welcome’ domestic competition

True customer choice will depend on water trading developments, says chief executive

The new chief executive of Bristol Water has said he would personally “welcome” the introduction of domestic water retail competition.

Speaking at Utility Week Live, Mel Karam responded to an audience question about his views on opening the domestic market.

“I don’t’ think it is inevitable,” he said, “though I personally would welcome it.”

Karam explained that his enthusiasm is based on his 25 year career in the energy sector before joining Bristol.

He said that the “benefits” that separation of monopoly infrastructure and competitive retail activities has brought over “decades” in the energy sector “are a really good lesson for water”.

Karam allowed however, that there are currently differences between energy and water sectors which would need addressing before full competitive benefits could be in the latter.

“In energy,” Karam observed “there is a valuable commodity – electricity and gas, energy – that can be traded.

“In water, as we speak today, there is not a priced commodity that can be traded. So there could be competition in the services provided to customers – which is in itself valuable – but to take it to the end game, which is to provide customers with a true choice about where they buy their water from and the retailers being able to trade in water, we need other elements in place, including the opening up of upstream water trading.”

Karam was taking part in a panel debate at the Utility Week Live Keynote Conference . He spoke alongside Basil Scarsella, chief executive of UK Power Networks and David Wright, chief electricity engineer and director of transmission owner at National Grid.

In the same session, Scarsella predicted that the next regulatory cycle for electircity networks will be shorter, to allow for flexibility in an uncertain environment.