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8 | 27TH JANUARY - 2ND FEBRUARY 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Interview 8 | 27TH JANUARY - 2ND FEBRUARY 2017 | UTILITY WEEK Utility Week quizzed Redesdale and Tomkins about the past, present and future of The Water Retail Company. Here are their answers. When was the idea that you might start up your own water company first conceived? JT: "We were talking about it for ages but I think, for- mally, around June (2016)." RR: "Our original idea was to offer a service where we did the paperwork for companies to get them through the door, but then we found that nobody wanted that." JT: "We have shared interests – and are constantly bemoaning the state of the water market. We both have concerns about it, and decided to put our money where our mouths were, stop complaining and set up a water company to do large-scale water efficiency and push the environmental side." RR: "The environmental side is really what we've been working on." JT: "The market offers a big opportunity for environmen- tal improvements, and there's enough money in there." RR: "The problem is that until now nothing has hap- pened because the monopolies didn't see it as some- thing they were that worried about." JT: "The industry is still dominated by large-scale built infrastructure. We would like to develop a service-based approach where we can drive environmental improve- ments. And make some money, there is a side part." RR: "We're going to be a competitive company, this is not going to be a charitable organisation." JT: "This is not a fluffy green company, we are a proper water company, but we think we can make money and drive environmental improvement at the same time, and reduce prices for businesses." How have you found the process of setting up the company? JT: "Actually, it's been easier than we thought. You should never say that, but both Ofwat and MOSL [Market Operator Services Limited] have been really helpful. It's a laborious process, but it's not a difficult process." RR: "We haven't found it difficult because we've got a lot of expertise – we know the kind of answers the DWI [Drinking Water Inspectorate] or the Environment Agency want. It will be difficult for those companies who haven't got that existing knowledge base to navigate their way through the process." JT: "We're not saying others don't have expertise, but we've been involved in the water sector for a long time, so we know the words to use. A lot of the paperwork is written in 'water sector-ese' – confusing if you're coming in from outside the sector." RR: "That's why companies you might expect to enter the marketplace – big energy companies, for example – will wait and buy companies that are already there." What is your target market? JT: "In our start-up phase, we need to work with larger businesses. As we move forward, we are interested in working with smaller businesses. We can't do that now because of the financial risk associated with it, but we are interested in pushing water efficiency across all businesses." RR: "We won't take high credit-risk businesses, we're too small. We will take on larger companies, and we will credit check those companies, because there's a massive risk for us in taking on a customer if they then don't pay." JT: "We have vulnerable customer terms. We won't cherry-pick and we won't chuck customers out, but it is a major risk." RR: "No, we will, we'll chuck customers out as will anybody else." JT: "Once we've gone through the vulnerable customer protocol." RR: "If you're a company and you're vulnerable why would we touch you? We're not going to provide a bespoke service to somebody who won't pay the bill." JT: "We have a protocol for how that works." RR: "We have a protocol, but in reality we would be prone to avoid taking on vulnerable customers, because we're a small company." JT: "To clarify, we're talking financially vulnerable, not vulnerable as in care homes and hospitals – we are tak- ing on those." What are the key selling points of the company? JT: "Transparency. Our profit margins – absolutely eve- rything – will be in the public domain. Hopefully other companies will be transparent as well, but total trans- parency is one. Also, we're looking to sign up to the Fair Tax Code – we'd be the first water company to do that. "We are going to conduct monthly outgoing calls. We will be proactive with customers rather than waiting for them to come to us, which should reduce incom- ing calls." RR: "Another differentiator is technology. We provide every service the customer needs through an app on their phone." JT: "Which you'd have thought other companies would be doing." RR: "And we plan not to tie our customers into contracts unless we're offering them further services which they request, which will be a differentiator." Biography: Rupert Mitford (Lord Rupert Redesdale) Rupert Mitford, 6th Baron Redesdale, better known as Lord Redes- dale, took his seat in the House of Lords in 1991 where he worked in a variety of roles. One of these was acting as energy spokesman for the Liberal Democrats until he le to form the Anaerobic Diges- tion and Bioresources Association (ADBA) in 2009. He stepped down as chairman of ADBA to give the Energy Managers Association (EMA) his full-attention in 2012, when he became its chief executive. Lord Redesdale is also chief executive of the Low Energy Company (LEC), which was launched in October 2013 to drive the energy efficiency agenda by auditing companies on their commitment to energy management.