Utility Week

26 | 12TH - 18TH JULY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Roundtable The Haymarket Hotel, London, May 2019 T he opening of the non-domestic water market was a miraculous event – a good news story for the utilities industry. Bang on time on 1 April 2017, the mar- ket opened its doors and systems and process – primed under shadow market operation – whirred into action. And they worked. Customers successfully switched suppliers, billing and settlement happened, hand-offs between wholesalers and retailers took place. Two years down the line, it's important not to lose sight of that success, but equally it is important for the market not to be con- tent with it. While the open water market is working, Utility Week and CGI's recent din- ner debate with industry leaders highlighted that it is by no means operating to its best potential – and with customer satisfaction levels showing their first decline since mar- ket opening in the Consumer Council for Water's recent Testing the Waters report, it seems customers are beginning to notice the imperfections. Friction points Encouragingly, it appears all the relevant players know what the friction points are, those points that are making it difficult to deliver better value in the open market. As event participants shared their key pain points and frustrations, heads around the room nodded in sympathy and there were no raised eyebrows or voices of dissent. What was less clear was what to do about these issues. At the heart of the market's challenges lies complexity. The collective determination to bundle it over the line in 2017 inevitably meant there was little time for streamlin- ing industry codes and processes. Bits and pieces of good practice from the Scottish open water market and the UK energy sector were onboarded but without much opportu- nity to compare and contrast what was most relevant and what alterations might be best for the English non-domestic situation. An elaborate set of codes inevitably led to an elaborate IT system to accommodate them and this was overlaid with a market govern- ance panel which, it was broadly agreed, seems designed to prevent change rather than facilitate it. In another market, this kind of complex- ity might not be so problematic. But in a low revenue, low margin environment, debate participants were clear it is hampering efforts to drive down cost to serve and inno- vate for customers. The making of a market Two years after the non-domestic retail market opened to competition, Utility Week, in association with CGI, gathered industry leaders to discuss the extent to which it has delivered real value.

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