Water & Wastewater Treatment Magazine
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Close-Up: Water retail 3. Business Stream The Scottish Water subsidiary is perhaps the most established player in the UK-wide water retail arena, having operated since Scotland's non-domestic retail market opened in April 2008. Led by chief executive Johanna Dow and headquartered in Edinburgh, it enjoyed a market share of more than 80 per cent north of the border, before suffering a setback with the loss of a £350M public sector contract with the Scottish Government to Anglian in October 2015, which pegged this back to around 50 per cent. However, in the summer of 2016 it made its ambitions in England clear by buying the 105,000-strong business customer base of Southern Water, and has opened a new office in Worthing (staffed by former Southern Water employees) to help serve this new customer set in Kent, Sussex, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. It has also gained significant experience of serving large multi-site businesses across England and Scotland, with House of Fraser being among its high-profile customers. In December Business Stream announced a deal with energy consultancy Utilitywise to offer businesses attractive multi-utility deals across electricity, gas and water from April. In the light of the Southern Water deal, Business Stream is set to be the third biggest operator in the combined Anglo-Scottish market. It has around 250 employees. Customers: 200,000 4. Pennon Water Services The owner of South West Water, Pennon Group, has already extended its interests in the water market recently with the acquisition of Bournemouth Water in April, and its subsequent merger with SWW. Its further ambitions were made by clear by a deal in November to create a joint venture with South Staffs Plc Group (SSG) for business retail. Pennon Water Services is 80% owned by Pennon and 20% by SSG and has an estimated turnover of £170M. It is based in Bournemouth but will continue to operate under local trading names, (i.e. South West Water Business Services, Bournemouth Water Business Services, South Staffs Water Business and Cambridge Water Business), with Source for Business being the out-of-area national brand name. It will utilise the Rapid Billing System currently used by SSG. Customers: 180,000 18 | FEBRUARY 2017 | WWT | www.wwtonline.co.uk Above: The Three Sixty team at their offices in Barnsley. Below, le : Johanna Dow, Business Stream. Rt: John Reynolds, CEO, Castle Water