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Keith Fowler has agreed to stand down as director of the Open Water programme after just seven months, following a consultation on its funding and structure by Ofwat.
John Parsonage of PA Consulting has been appointed interim director of Open Water Markets, a new company set up to directly fund the Open Water initiative, which is charged with the design of the water market post-2017
A spokesman for Open Water Markets said it would soon begin recruiting for a new board, including elected representatives from industry as well as a new chief executive.
Ofwat said in January the creation of the new company would “address the programme’s short-term funding and governance issues”. Consultation showed stakeholders wanted a separate company and board to run the programme, rather than it being operated at arm’s length by Ofwat, the regulator said.
According to Parsonage, the programme is on track to deliver the opening of the retail market to competition for non-domestic customers in 2017.
“Thanks to Keith’s work we now have the foundations – ahead of schedule – to set up Open Water Markets Limited, an entity which can evolve into the market operator for an Anglo-Scottish retail market in the future”
“It is now right that Open Water Markets will need to look to the next stage of its evolution- establishing its own governance and leadership including a new board and chief executive officer. This will require a different mix of skills and experience, including experience of establishing and running a market operator. As agreed Keith has therefore stepped down as director for the Open Water programme as this work transfers over to Open Water Markets Limited,” he said.
The Open Water programme published a market retail blueprint consultation on competition in January with regulator Ofwat claiming it would “await with interest” the responses from water companies in the coming months.
The blueprint sets out how to make sure there is a level playing field between incumbent water companies and new market entrants, join up England’s system with the existing Scottish market and reflect customer expectations.
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