Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are on target to deliver retail competition for non-household water and sewerage services in England in April 2017; whether they plan to publish a clearly defined timetable and a schedule of the trigger points necessary to meet this deadline; and whether Ofwat are able to impose financial penalties for breaches of licence conditions on companies which are not ready to become a licensee for the provision of retail services for all non-household customers by that date.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
We are on track to open the non-household retail market for water and sewerage services in April 2017. All partners in the Open Water programme (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ofwat and Market Operator Services Limited), are strongly committed to meeting this date. A clear timetable of the activities, which will need to be completed before the market can open, is published on Ofwat’s website and updated each month. Market Operator Services Limited is working closely with all relevant companies to ensure that they will be ready for market opening in April 2017. Incumbent water companies who want to compete in the new national retail market will need to establish a separate legal entity and apply for a Water and Sewerage Supply Licence, although they are not under any obligation to do so. Ofwat sought views on the appropriate conditions for licensees operating in the new retail market through its consultation on new Water and Sewerage Supply Licences in June 2015. It will be able to impose financial penalties on licensees who do not comply with these conditions.Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ask water companies to do more to co-ordinate and implement flood defences; whether they plan to launch a full and transparent tender process in the market to meet this objective; and whether water companies' work on flood defence is intended to be outwith their regulated business.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
Water and sewerage companies’ responsibilities include managing the risk of flooding from surface water or sewer systems. They are also expected to work in partnership with the Environment Agency and Lead Local Flood Authorities to manage the risks of all sources of flooding within a catchment.
The Government has therefore not asked water companies to do more to co-ordinate and implement flood defences, nor is it planning to launch a tender process in the market to meet this objective.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to commission a third-party audit of the Thames Tideway Tunnel, to be made available to assist water companies to adopt best practice when managing contracts for new reservoirs, in particular regarding the optimal use of outside contractors and specialist companies capable of constructing reservoirs.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government has not planned any third party audit. We note the National Audit Office published a report in June 2014 on the risks and governance of the Thames Tideway Tunnel and may choose to write a further report. Copies of the strategic and economic case for the TTT, cost-benefit analysis and peer reviewed supporting evidence will be placed in the House Library.
In respect of contracts for new reservoirs, Ofwat have said with reference to the Thames Tideway Tunnel that it is keen to explore whether this delivery model could work for other big projects in the water sector. We are not aware of any ongoing applications to construct new reservoirs.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to publish best practice guidelines as part of water resource management plans to ensure that the right solutions can be delivered at competitive prices.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ofwat and the Environment Agency published joint water resources management planning guidance in 2012. This included the expectation that water companies should consider all options to balance supply with demand, including water trading, cross boundary solutions and third party supplier solutions. Updated guidance is currently being prepared for publication for the next planning round.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, as part of their water resource management responsibilities, water companies have been asked to look beyond their boundaries to secure sufficient water supply to satisfy future customer demand.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Ofwat and the Environment Agency published joint water resources management planning guidance in 2012. This included the expectation that water companies should consider all options to balance supply with demand, including water trading, cross boundary solutions and third party supplier solutions. Updated guidance is currently being prepared for publication for the next planning round.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the definition of a customer to be protected by the core duties of Ofwat.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The definition of a customer of a water or sewerage undertaker is: any person for or to whom that company provides any services in the course of carrying out the functions of a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker.
A customer of a licensed water supplier is defined as: any person to whom that company provides a supply of water in accordance with its retail authorisation.
Asked by: Lord Moynihan (Conservative - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what criteria water company retail arms can use regulated money to take over the customer base of water companies that have exited the market place.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
The Government is committed to enabling exit for the non-household part of a statutory water and sewerage undertaker’s retail business. Since the Water Act received Royal Assent in May 2014, we have been working with the water industry to develop the secondary legislation necessary to enable companies to exit at the opening of the new retail market in April 2017. We consulted on the proposed policy approach in December 2014 and will be publishing a further public consultation on the draft retail exits regulations shortly.
The Government has always been clear that exit must be voluntary. Our approach will enable each water and sewerage undertaker to decide whether or not they wish to exit the market for non-household retail services. Undertakers will also have the choice to continue to provide retail services to non-household customers within their area of appointment, under the existing licence of appointment. However, an undertaker can only exit to a retailer that holds one of the new Water Supply and Sewerage licences (WSSL). An undertaker cannot exit to another undertaker because undertakers will not be eligible to hold one of the new retail licences. An undertaker could not, therefore, take a transfer of customers from outside of its area of appointment.
The only exception to this rule would be in the case of a merger between undertakers. To cover this eventuality, there is a special merger regime that explicitly considers the impact of the merger on Ofwat’s ability to regulate effectively for customers and either prohibits mergers or seeks to extract remedies for customers from company shareholders to make up for any detriment. We assume that ‘regulated money’ refers to the revenue allowances that water undertakers are allowed to recover from customers under their price limits, most recently set by Ofwat in December. In this scenario it would not be possible for such ‘regulated money’ to be used to take over another water company except where that company had already outperformed the price settlement through efficiencies.
The companies holding one of the new ‘retail’ WSSL licences are expected to include both new entrants to the market that have no association with any existing water company; and ‘associate licensees’ that form part of an undertaker’s wider group business but are nevertheless required to be established as a separate legal entity. These licenced retailers will operate in the competitive market and may therefore opt to use their own working capital to acquire customers through a transfer following an exit. In this scenario it would therefore similarly be impossible for ‘regulated money’ to be used to take over another water company’s retail arm because these companies are not subject to price limits set by Ofwat through the price review process.
There are already requirements in the water and sewerage undertakers licence of appointment that ensure that all transactions with an associated licensee must be conducted on a fair and non-discriminatory basis and companies are subject to rigorous transfer pricing rules that ensure transactions are conducted on an arms’ length basis. Ofwat’s recently published consultation on the proposed form and content of the new retail licences for the expanded retail market proposes that similar requirements should also be placed on to holders of these new Water and Sewerage Supply Licences (the new retail licences). These checks and balances mean that it would not be possible for the retail arm of a water and sewerage undertaker to use regulated money to take over the customer base of water companies that have exited the market place.