Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what (a) new services and (b) innovations have been introduced to the water market as a result of competition between water suppliers.

New services introduced to the water market include, but are not limited to:

• consolidated billing;

• billing and metering services;

• enhanced customer services;

• multi-utility offerings;

• water efficiency services; and

• other consultancy services.

Innovations introduced include the emerging new business model of ‘self-supply’, where five business customers have become self-supply retailers, meaning they procure water services directly from wholesalers and provide their own retail services. Benefits for these customers include financial savings, better oversight of their own usage, and influence over industry developments through participation in market governance.

Ofwat’s report on the first year of the market, Open for business, contains further detail: https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/State-of-the-market-report-2017-18-FINAL.pdf.