Supplementary guidance on whether non-household customers in England and Wales are eligible to switch their retailer: consultation responses and decisions

Supplementary guidance on whether non-household customers in England and Wales are eligible to switch their retailer: consultation responses and decisions

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Published

19th July, 2016

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Publication

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Policy and technical papers

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This document sets out our conclusions following a consultation on our supplementary guidance for assessing whether customers in England and Wales: • are eligible to be supplied by a licensed water supplier (WSL); and/or • will be eligible to be provided with water and/or sewerage services by a water and sewerage licensee (such licensees are referred to as WSSLs) when the new retail market opens in April 2017. The supplementary guidance focuses on whether or not premises should be treated as household premises under section 17C of the Water Industry Act 1991 (WIA91) and so are/or will be ineligible to switch supplier. This follows requests from stakeholders such as undertakers, potential licensees, current WSLs and customer groups for additional clarity and examples following our publication of the “Guidance on assessing whether customers in England and Wales are eligible to switch their water and wastewater retailer”, which we released in August 2015 (the eligibility guidance). Ofwat has engaged with many participants as part of this process and it is vital companies determine the eligibility of premises in time for the opening of the non-household market. We consider that this guidance provides relevant participants with sufficient information to determine eligibility. Consistent with the eligibility guidance, this supplementary guidance will apply to both England and Wales (where the threshold requirement is met) and to WSLs and WSSLs. We note that, as set out in the eligibility guidance, the factors to be taken into account in determining the extent of premises will be different where the threshold limit applies. This will mean that the boundaries of premises will be more widely drawn for companies operating in accordance with a water supply licence with a restricted retail authorisation (i.e. using the supply system of an undertaker whose area is wholly or mainly in Wales. This, together with the 50 Ml/year threshold limit which has to be met in order for premises to be eligible to be supplied by a water supply licensee with a restricted retail authorisation, is likely to limit the relevance of some of the examples set out in this guidance. Stakeholders should also note that as well as issuing the supplementary guidance, we have also updated our eligibility guidance to take into account commencement of relevant provisions of the Water Act 2014, development of our thinking on the