Interview: Ben Jeffs, chief executive, MOSL

“This is not a programme where I can afford to let us have easy days. It’s about getting stuff done.”

Heading into the new offices of Market Operator Services Limited (MOSL), Utility Week notices the slogan emblazoned on the recently  installed glass partitions in the Holborn HQ.

“Every day is a delivery day.”

One imagines the famous “Keep Calm and Carry On” poster would be equally fitting. Certainly that’s a mantra that chief executive Ben Jeffs seems to be adhering to.

He welcomes Utility Week into his new office, which appears quite barren – only a desk-cum-meeting table, a lamp, a wall that doubles up as a whiteboard, and a number of chairs populate the room, which is separated from the rest of the office by floor-to-ceiling windows. The room gives Jeffs an ideal lookout for observing his team in action, perhaps even keeping them on track, just as MOSL is trying to do with the water industry as the opening of the non-domestic water market approaches.

This is a mammoth task, involving keeping market participants up to speed; building trust and confidence that the market will be ready; assisting market participants in their preparations; ensuring the design and build of the central IT system happens on time and on budget; testing all the systems and working through any potential issues; and putting in place protocols to deal with the seemingly inevitable data quality issues.

On top of all of this, MOSL has just completed its second office move since it was formed by United Utilities, Anglian Water and Northumbrian Water in February 2015.

Jeffs seems remarkably calm and relaxed despite the mountain of work that still lies ahead. One that could grow even further because, in the week after Utility Week’s visit to MOSL, the Treasury made the surprise announcement that it plans to introduce retail competition to the domestic water market by the end of the decade.

The utility veteran, who has witnessed the birth of a competitive market before in his previous roles at Transco and National Grid (see box overleaf), is obviously reassured by that experience. So much so that when asked whether the market will open on time, he responds with an emphatic “yes”, and says there will not be a last-minute decision to delay opening because the assurance process will keep market participants on track and progress well documented.

“Some believe that a decision in spring 2017 is leaving it too late,” he says. “The assurance process is about building confidence. I don’t ever see getting to spring 2017 without people feeling they know where the process is at and what the issues were.

“We can’t deal with stuff that comes totally from left field, but apart from anything coming out of the blue – which shouldn’t happen because we monitor risks – we won’t get to that point without knowing.”

Readers might think “he would say that wouldn’t he”, but Jeffs is quick to back up his optimism about timely market opening. He flourishes the MOSL “masterplan” as evidence that everything is on track. “You wouldn’t be able to do this job if you didn’t have a plan,” he says.

The plan features five work streams the delivery body is working through: participants ready, market ready, systems ready, MOSL ready, and digital ready. Each has its own set of milestones that must be reached on time to keep the complex programme on schedule. However, although Jeffs is following the plan, with targets being met almost to the day, he emphasises that it is flexible.

“Do we slavishly follow the plan? No we don’t. The plan is there to inform what we do and keep us under control. If we spot there is an area of the plan that can be improved, we’ll improve it.”

The workstream overview does not present a flawless picture of the progress of MOSL and the market’s preparations – there are a number of amber blobs and the odd splash of red against the targets, but Jeffs isn’t flustered by these alerts.

“We’re not worried that we have ambers on here because we know where they come from,” he says as he flicks through the document. “We know exactly where we’re at and that gives us an overall comfort.

“We’re not kidding ourselves by saying it’s all green, but when I say I’m confident I mean we know all of that and what we’re doing about it.”

The “digital ready” workstream element of the plan is one of those dotted with amber and red, but Jeffs says this is an example of the plan’s fluidity, calling it a “nice to have” and saying it has been “allowed to sit in the background at a slower pace”.

Almost six months into his tenure, one thing that hasn’t been slow is the development of MOSL itself. From an organisation formed out of necessity in February – after the previous organisation tasked with procuring the central IT system was deemed to be a public body and therefore hamstrung in its ability to move as swiftly as the programme required – MOSL is almost at full strength and settling into its new home.

Jeffs takes a moment to stress the work done by the founding water companies and the team at Open Water Markets Limited (OWML) to get MOSL up and running and keep everything moving. “Most important is the contribution of the founder organisations. They were crucial to setting us up.” He adds that the work of UU chief executive Steve Mogford, Northumbrian Water chief executive Heidi Mottram, and Anglian Water chief executive Peter Simpson has taken MOSL “from a twinkle in their eyes to where it is today” in its plush new office which, says Jeffs, is an important reflection of the kind of organisation MOSL wants to be. It’s certainly a far cry from the “dull and dingy” space that preceded the recent refurbishment.

“We wanted to create a fresh, MOSL-ised space and bring the teams together,” says Jeffs. These teams include those directly employed by MOSL, the secondees from the industry, and the contractors from the likes of IT provider CGI and systems tester SQS, and unifying them is all part of generating a tireless work ethic.

That is vital, Jeffs adds. “It is important to get the branding and MOSL colours through because it gives us an identity. There is lots of complexity and risk in the programme so having everyone in one place, as one team, will get us through the pinch points.”

Even the mantra “every day is a delivery day” forms part of a relentless stream of reminders of the time pressures that MOSL and the industry face.

“This is not a programme where I can afford to let us have easy days. It’s about getting stuff done,” says Jeffs, who has proved to be an expert at crisis management and delivering when under pressure (see box, right). “We’re acutely aware of the number of days.”

With a countdown featuring in every board meeting – it is 479 days until 1 April as Utility Week goes to press – there is that sense of persistent pressure on MOSL, and that is something the chief exec passes on to his team.

“A lot of work gets done on projects at the back end, but we can’t afford to do that. It’s about getting everybody working sustainably hard. It’s the constant drumbeat of ‘don’t put off to tomorrow what you can do today’.”

A large chunk of the MOSL team’s effort is being directed at what is widely recognised will be a problem come market opening: data quality.

The English incumbents have been working on the quality and completeness of their data for more than 18 months, and many have been to Scotland to speak directly with participants north of the border about the best ways to deal with, and find solutions to, the problem. MOSL is heavily involved in these talks and finding a solution that will ensure customers get acceptable service when the non-domestic market opens.

That is very much the nub of what Jeffs believes is needed – not zero issues, but a way to work around the issues that are inevitably going to arise. It’s essential to ensure “customers don’t get left behind” he says.

 As for the next few months, thoughts are turning to the post go-live world. There will be a focus on working out the protocols and regulations necessary to protect customers when disputes arise between the incoming and outgoing retailers.

And with the Treasury’s announcement about domestic competition – which will be a much bigger challenge because of the size of the market – focusing on the next steps and delivering to a tight timetable is likely to be front and centre in Jeffs’ and MOSL’s plans.

After all, for MOSL, “every day is a delivery day”.

Ben Jeffs is a keynote speaker at the Utility Week Water Consumer Conference on 20 January 2016 at the Birmingham City Centre Holiday Inn. See www.uw-watercustomer.net for more details.