Water & Wastewater Treatment

The Public's View of a Changing Sector We are entering into a period of enormous change. The proposed Water Act, mandatory water meters, increasing customer choice and various environmental challenges are combining to create an uncertain future. Many of the proposed changes are being carried out in the name of the public interest, but how informed (or indeed interested) are the public? We commissioned a report in order to answer that question and help frame the debates that will be concerning the water sector in future months and years. View the report at www.talis-uk.com We have done the research... www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | JUNE 2014 | 15 Industry leaders Dr Piers Clark Commercial director Thames Water "The only way that we're going to engage with customers is by coming up with more compelling propositions." T hames Water is the utility that serves London and the surrounding regions. It is arguably the biggest water com- pany in England and Wales although that's in terms of the number of customers served rather than the geography covered. In the wake of the Water Bill gaining Royal Assent, commercial director Dr Piers Clark considers what competition means for the sector. Q: What does the opening up of retail com- petition mean for the UK water industry? It's worth remembering that the UK water sector has been openly competitive in the past. 120 years ago it was ultra competitive. If you lived in London in the 1880s/1890s you would have had a clear choice over your water supplier. Not only could you have changed suppliers but all sorts of nefarious practices went on. There are stories of competing companies banging holes in each other's pipes to cause disruption and to create a 'competitive edge'. The competitive market only stopped in 1898 when the industry was nationalised following a terrible drought which almost led to London run- ning out of water. Here we are, 120 years later, putting competition back into the water sector. This time, of course, we won't have quite the free-for-all that happened last time! Q: Does the incumbent company have an advantage? I like to think that I have the advantage of seeing both sides of this challenge as I am both the incumbent in London, as part of Thames Water Utilities Limited (TWUL) and the new entrant outside of the Thames region, with Thames Wa- ter Commercial Services Ltd (TWCSL). With my TWUL hat on I represent the major incumbent supplier to the business customers in London. I've got 250,000 business customers,

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