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Sonia Brown, Ofwat’s chief regulation officer and WICS chief executive Alan Sutherland have been appointed non-executive directors of Open Water Market.
The programme, set up by Ofwat to deliver water competition, was handed over to the newly created OWM in January after Ofwat announced it could not raise the required funding through license fees.
Following the departure of the programme’s director, Keith Fowler, it was also announced that a new board would be set up, including elected representatives from industry.
In addition, the recruitment process has started for a new chief executive and chairman, expected to be in place by June.
According to Andrew Beaver, Ofwat’s director of strategy, the regulatory directors were appointed because the board was being set up to act as the market operator when the market goes live in 2017.
“As the regulators in England and Scotland we might want to have some say on the company if we are having a joint Anglo-Scottish market, which is the government’s ambition,” he told Utility Week.
Beaver also said that because there were “a lot of incumbents and not very many new entrants”, it was “normal” that regulators would have a role in the entity.
Although the appointments are temporary until the Water Bill receives Royal Assent in the summer, Beaver said he expected OWM to have regulatory representatives on its board beyond this.
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