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1258634

registered interest
date	07/12/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans Ofwat has to review its market codes to encourage more companies to switch retailers in the coming year.
tabling member printed	Baroness Harris of Richmond
uin	HL11123
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2020 answer text <p>Since the business retail market opened in 2017, customer awareness and engagement has increased. In 2019/20, 58% of business customers (and 96% of large business customers) were aware that they can choose their retailer, up from 53% in 2018/19 and 48% in 2017/18. The annual rate of switching and/or re‑negotiating remains at around 4%. Market Codes help to govern and underpin the business retail market. However, it is the responsibility of retailers to promote their services to encourage switching.</p><p>Ofwat’s role is to promote competition through a well-functioning market to further the interests of customers. Since market opening, Ofwat has published annual reports on the business retail market, with a focus on benefits delivered to customers. In August 2020, Ofwat also published its ‘review of incumbent company support for effective markets’, which made clear that a number of market frictions continue to impede the development of effective competition and better customer outcomes and challenged industry to address these as a matter of urgency. Ofwat recognises that industry efforts to improve market functioning have accelerated, aided by collaborative leadership from the market operator (MOSL), but also highlights that resolution of market frictions continues to require urgent attention from all trading parties to build on improvements seen to date.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 21/12/2020 16:38:15 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
tabling member	2505 label Biography information for Baroness Harris of Richmond

1258638

registered interest
date	07/12/2020
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	2
legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
question text	To ask Her Majesty's Government whether Ofwat has fulfilled its role as regulator in promoting the entry of new entrant water retailers into the Non-Household Water Retail market.
tabling member printed	Baroness Harris of Richmond
uin	HL11127
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2020 answer text <p>Ofwat’s role is to promote competition through a well-functioning market where that will further the interests of customers. In furthering this role, since the market has opened the regulator has explored barriers to market entry, for example, credit security arrangements for smaller new entrants. Where appropriate, Ofwat has supported (and on occasions sponsored) market code amendments aimed at promoting new entrants to the market.</p><p> </p><p>Over the past three years, we have seen greater choice for business customers with around twenty retailers operating in England. In addition, a number of larger customers have become licensed to operate as self-suppliers. The self-supply model enables customers to have greater control over their data, and has delivered price and water efficiency savings. In 2019/20, an additional three self-supply licences were granted bringing the total to 12 as at end March 2020.</p> answering member printed Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park question first answered 21/12/2020 16:16:25 answering member 4062 label Biography information for Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park
tabling member	2505 label Biography information for Baroness Harris of Richmond

1126226

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of commercial enterprises using water suppliers that are competing for customers.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	253652
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>Ofwat’s report on the first year of the market, Open for business, set out how customers have engaged with the market, and the extent of switching. The report can be found here: <a href="https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf</a>.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 20/05/2019 11:02:59 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1126228

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timeframe is for the roll-out of water competition between suppliers for domestic household consumers.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	253653
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>There has been no decision on whether to roll out water competition between suppliers for domestic household consumers.</p><p> </p><p>The Government is looking to learn lessons from opening the water market for business customers, particularly with regard to the impacts on bills, customer service, innovation and efficiency, before making any decision on whether to roll out water competition between suppliers for domestic household consumers. In particular, we need to ensure the benefits can be delivered and vulnerable customers can be protected.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 20/05/2019 11:21:51 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1126231

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which region has the (a) greatest and (b) least level of competition in the supply of water for commercial enterprises.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	253654
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/05/2019 answer text <p>The Department does not hold data on this.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 20/05/2019 11:08:24 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1126234

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many commercial enterprises have chosen a water supplier that was not the regional monopoly supplier in each of the last two years.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	253655
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>According to Market Operator Services Limited, the market operator for the retail market in England, of the approximate 2.8 million supply points in the market, a total of 221,775 supply points have switched water supplier since market opening in April 2017.</p><p> </p><p>Of these, 219,731 (99% of the total) switched to a retailer that did not have a dominant share of supply points, measured as not having more than 80% of regional supply points.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 17/05/2019 11:57:20 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith

1126252

registered interest
date	13/05/2019
answering body	Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept id	13
answering dept short name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
answering dept sort name	Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
hansard heading	Water Supply: Competition
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) new services and (b) innovations have been introduced to the water market as a result of competition between water suppliers.
tabling member constituency	Southampton, Itchen
tabling member printed	Royston Smith
uin	253656
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 17/05/2019 answer text <p>New services introduced to the water market include, but are not limited to:</p><p> </p><ul><li><p>consolidated billing;</p></li><li><p>billing and metering services;</p></li><li><p>enhanced customer services;</p></li><li><p>multi-utility offerings;</p></li><li><p>water efficiency services; and</p></li><li><p>other consultancy services.</p></li></ul><p> </p><p>Innovations introduced include the emerging new business model of ‘self-supply’, where five business customers have become self-supply retailers, meaning they procure water services directly from wholesalers and provide their own retail services. Benefits for these customers include financial savings, better oversight of their own usage, and influence over industry developments through participation in market governance.</p><p> </p><p>Ofwat’s report on the first year of the market, Open for business, contains further detail: <a href="https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf</a>.</p> answering member constituency Suffolk Coastal answering member printed Dr Thérèse Coffey question first answered 17/05/2019 11:59:08 answering member 4098 label Biography information for Dr Thérèse Coffey
tabling member	4478 label Biography information for Royston Smith