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The non-household water market in England and Wales has failed to deliver what it was designed to for most customers, watchdog CCW said.
In a report into the state of the retail market after five years, CCW called for water company licences to include a customer satisfaction performance commitment to mimic C-Mex or D-Mex and for micro-businesses to no longer be part of the market if they remain unengaged.
As part of its review, the consumer body issued recommendations for wholesalers, retailers and the regulator to ensure complaints are resolved quickly, effectively and transparently for all customers.
“We envisaged a market that empowered businesses to save money and water, as well as providing tailored services, but it has failed to deliver for most customers,” Emma Clancy, chief executive of CCW said.
“Tinkering at the edges is not enough. Our review sets out changes to enhance business customers’ experiences so they are more motivated to engage with the market and they get the improved services they deserve. If there are not significant improvements over the next two years, those seeing the least benefit should be taken out of the market.”
Other targeted actions recommended by CCW included making a customer-focused policy on leakage allowances, which should mirror domestic policies.
The report called for small water users who are not engaged in the market to no longer be eligible for it. CCW said unless tangible benefits are realised for micro-businesses, measurable by switching rates or contract re-negotiation, these customers should no longer be classed as business customers.
It recommended a switching increase of 10% points by organisations using under 0.5Ml annually by 2025 and 5% point jump in contract renegotiation.
“If these targets are not met within two years we will recommend a change in legislation. The change we would be seeking is to amend the market eligibility threshold in England so both current and future customers, using up to 0.5Ml of water a year, are no longer eligible unless they have already switched retailer and re-negotiated their contract,” the report said.
To improve billing, CCW called for customers to get at least two bills annually based on meter readings and for parties to be incentivised to address long unread meters.
Water efficiency also came into focus with recent calls by Waterwise and MOSL not to overlook contributions of business customers to long-term demand management targets. CCW urged retailers to tailor customer advice to help them better manage their consumption.
Metering has remained a persistent friction since the market opened in 2017. CCW called on wholesalers to accelerate smart meter rollouts and to ensure data from meters is accessible to customers to help understand billing.
Suggestions that market changes be streamlined were added, with CCW suggesting alterations “must be beneficial to business customers and be implemented quickly, with minimal bureaucracy by 2024”.
The group called for noticeable changes by April 2024, when the majority of recommendations should be completed by.
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