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

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much public funding has been spent on Open Water, and why it has been wound up and the Open Water programme taken over by Ofwat and Market Operating Services Limited.

Open Water is the programme responsible for the design and delivery of the new retail market. It has not been wound up. It includes the work of Defra, Ofwat, and Market Operator Services Limited (MOSL), which is a private company owned by market participants. MOSL’s precursor, Open Water Markets Limited, is being wound-up, following the transition of the majority of its functions to MOSL.

For further information please see Ofwat’s information notice IN 15/08 (Opening a new retail market for non-household customers – roles, responsibilities and governance for the Open Water programme after May 2015). This is available on Ofwat’s website.

The Open Water programme is funded by contributions from water and sewerage companies. In June 2015, Open Water published an update on the programme budget (Revised budget for implementing the new water and wastewater retail services market in England – the Open Water programme), which is available on Ofwat’s website.