Water & Wastewater Treatment

16 | JUNE 2014 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk spending about £400m annually on water. It is tempting to think of the incumbent busi- nesses as big, fat, and lazy and not focused on customer needs. Nothing could be further from the truth. From what I have seen, every one of the incumbent water companies is working hard to prove to their customers the value they bring. Competition is, without a doubt, making all the water companies step up their services. With my TWCSL hat on I represent the new entrant water retailer, fighting to prove themselves in a new territory with new clients. Typically these companies are hungry, dynamic and arguably more fleet-of-foot than the more established, larger incumbents. Clearly there are pros and cons to being both an incumbent or a new entrant. The challenge facing the sector is how to ensure that there is a level playing field for all entrants. It's great to be a big incumbent because we've got the history, the expertise, the heritage, and the know-how. But we've also got practices and procedures that could slow us down if we don't open our minds. What is absolutely vital over the coming months is that we set up the competitive market properly. The market codes need to be robust and clear, they need to provide a stable and level playing field. Without this competition will flounder and I genuinely believe that no one in the sector wants to see this happen. It is in all of our best interests (customers, regulators, wholesalers, investors, incumbent retailers and the new entrants) to have a system that is fair, and that works effectively and efficiently. I am delighted to see the industry working together (through Open Water for example) to en- sure we put our heads together to ensure success. Q: Who's to sell the service? We've got to have staff who are happy to be on the customer facing 'sales front-line'. These individuals need to be sensitive to customer needs and to the many different sectors that ex- ist, and the specific challenges for these sectors. For example, the water management needs of a hospital have to be treated totally differently to the needs of, say, a brewery. Water is vital to both of them but clearly they've got different needs and priorities. Q:How different will the industry be? The only way that we're going to engage with customers is coming up with propositions that are more compelling than what they've already seen. And you know what? As soon as something is proven to work everyone else will start copying it. Thus, to be successful over the long term, organisations will have to constantly strive to reach a little bit further, reach a little bit higher, do something a bit different, a bit better, than what they did last time. How fantastic is that going to be for the sec- tor? I am delighted that this new environment is being created, it can only result in enhanced performance. Success will come, I suspect, from those organisations that dare to be different. Q: Can we expect problems? We can't get this wrong. We can't afford to let teething problems (like the challenges over market codes not being exactly right, or not having the right IT systems in place) stop us from supplying water to our customers. You can't let a hospital suddenly lose its water supply because there's a bit of competition going on. We've got to keep calm and focused. We've got to be resilient and pursue the end goal of supplying water to business customers with diligence and a clear aim. And we probably need to be just that little bit audacious. Retailers of course have to be alive to the challenges but I think most of us already are. I think all of us are working out what it is we need to be offering our customers. Customers are going to have all sorts of confusion, they're going to be approached by lots of different retailers and told lots of different stories. There will inevitably be some confu- sion and some mis-truths told. And we, as an industry, have to provide shelter from the storm for our customers. Q: What does the opening up of retail competition mean for the UK water industry? It's a time of change. And a time of change is a time of opportunity. And it should be very, very exciting. For further reading go to www.wwtonline.co.uk Industry leaders Path to the top 1991 North West Water 2002 Atkins - Managing Director 2005 Mouchel Regulated Industries - Managing Director 2010 Thames Water- Interim Asset Management Director 2011 Thames Water- Commercial Director • About Thames Water Commercial Services Thames Water Commercial Services (TWCS) is part of the Thames Water group – the UK's biggest provider of water and wastewater services. TWCS is a new team drawing upon the best of Thames Water's core capabilities of water and wastewater management. It is taking these skills and experience beyond its traditional boundaries of London and the Thames Valley in response to the wider UK business markets being opened up to competition. TWCS holds licences for water and wastewater retail in Scotland and combined water services for England and Wales, which means TWCS can now offer businesses across the UK "the same expertise our valued customers in the South East have had for over 400 years". Servi c e | V al ue | Responsibility Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies has the capability to transform your wastewater into a valuable resource. • Maximise treatment capacity and water reuse • Achieve carbon and whole life cost reduction • Protect the environment through sustainable treatment solutions Water is too valuable to be used only once Veolia technologies provide more than 3.5 million m 3 of reused wastewater every day www.veoliawaterst.co.uk or call us on 01628 896900

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