More water companies have applied to Ofwat for retail water supply and sewerage licences ahead of the opening of the non-household market for competition in April 2017.

Water 2 Business Ltd, a 70/30 joint venture between Wessex Water Ltd and Bristol Water Holdings Ltd, has applied to the regulator for authorisation to participate in the competitive non-household retail markets. W2BL intends to acquire the non-household businesses of its affiliated undertakings
under the terms of the Exit Regulations arrangements. W2BL said its strategy is to improve the excellent level of service whilst maintaining the pricing that these customers already experience, and extend this to their customers’ other sites across the country and to provide value added services.

Acknowledging that W2BL will ”inevitably lose some customers to other retailers”, the firm said the strategy, even with some prudent assumptions about customer growth, delivers a sustainable set of financial forecasts.

Kelda Retail Ltd has also made an application for a retail water supply and sewerage licence, saying its aim is to create a sustainable, trusted and transparent business and that by offering water retailing and a range of products and services it would help businesses manage their water usage “seamlessly and effectively.” Kelda added it would achieve this by building on the themes of “being brilliant at the basics and creating a winning organisation.”

Finally, SSWB Ltd, a company within the South Staffordshire Plc Group, has likewise applied for a retail water supply and sewerage licence to offer a water and waste supply service to business customers primarily in the South Staffordshire and Cambridge areas. However, the firm said it would also seek to increase market share through customer acquisition outside these areas.

Deadline to submit representations or objections to Ofwat about W2BL and Kelda’s applications is 1st August 2016 - deadline to comment on SSWB’s application is 3rd August.