Case Summary
On 17 October Ofwat published a Notice of the Water Services Regulation Authority’s Proposal to Make a Final Enforcement Order to Olympos Water under Section 18(1) of the Water Industry Act 1991 to secure its compliance with the Water Supply and Sewerage Licence Standard Conditions (the SLCs), Part A, Condition 4. The consultation closed on 7 November 2023.
Summary of Ofwat’s final decision to close the case
It is set out in a retailer’s licence that it must submit a Certificate of Adequacy on an annual basis to certify that it has and will have for the following 12 months all necessary arrangements in place, including management, financial, technical, operational, and other resources needed for securing that it is able to meet its obligations as a licence holder.
Additionally Standard Licence Condition (SLC) A4, paragraph 4 enables the Authority to require licensees to supplement certificates submitted under this condition by such verification report, as may be reasonably required. Ofwat requested a verification report in addition to the Certificate of Adequacy about the key financial and operational risks that retailers consider their businesses faces, and how it intends to manage those risks such that it can meet all of its obligations.
Having engaged with Olympos Water to remind it of its obligation to provide the relevant documents over a course of many months Ofwat did not receive a response. Therefore, on 17 October Ofwat published a Notice of the Water Services Regulation Authority’s Proposal to Make a Final Enforcement Order to Olympos Water under Section 18(1) of the Act to secure its compliance with the Water Supply and Sewerage Licence Standard Conditions (the SLCs), Part A, Condition 4. The consultation closed on 7 November 2023.
Before the consultation closed Olympos Water provided the documents required to bring itself into compliance with SLC4. In its supplementary verification report Olympos Water informed Ofwat that MOSL have classified Olympos Water as dormant and that it won’t be able to trade until going through a reassurance process. We have received assurance of this from MOSL.
At this stage we are now satisfied that the information provided satisfies and addresses our concerns with respected to SLC4. We will continue to monitor Olympos’ future responses to regulatory requests and will take further action if our concerns continue.
Key Publications
Notice of the Water Services Regulation Authority’s Proposal to Make a Final Enforcement Order to Olympos Water – Ofwat (17 October 2023)
Date Opened
17 October 2023
Date Closed
7 November 2023