Water industry regulator Ofwat has launched a new consultation on its proposed guidance setting out on howcustomers and companies will be able to determine which customers are eligible to switch water supplier when the competitive market opens for business in 2017.

From April 2017 any non-household customer served by an English water or wastewater provider will be able to switch from their existing retailer.

Ofwat is seeking comments on its proposals to amend the water supply licensing guidance on eligibility so that it will be compatible with the opening up of the market for non-household customers in England.

The regulator considers that the guidance should adhere to the following  three main principles:

• Clear – Customers should be able to intuitively understand whether they are eligible and wherever possible customers who expect to be able to switch should be able to.
• Simple – Companies will need clear rules to apply to get on with the work with preparing their databases for 2017 and customers will benefit from a simple-to-follow process.
• Consistent – An assessment of eligibility should ideally be the same for customers of different providers in England and, as much as possible, the same for customers in England and in Scotland.

The consultation says that while there will be some difficult cases which cannot be resolved through simple rules, in most cases Ofwat expects that customers will be able to understand if they are able to switch based on their status for local authority rates and the main use of their premises.

In the event of a dispute around the eligibility of a customer to switch the regulator expects existing providers to manage their customer relationships in the first instance, although it envisages that there will be a dispute resolution process put in place.

The consultation is seeking views on the following key questions in particular:

• Do you have any comments or concerns in relation to our proposed guidance on the threshold requirement?
• Do you have any comments or concerns in relation to our proposed guidance on what constitutes a single set of premises?
• Which factors are relevant when deciding whether or not the principal use of mixed-use premises is as a home?
• Do you have any comments on our proposed guidance on the definition of eligible non-household premises?
• Do you have any further comments on concerns in relation to the proposed changes we are making to this guidance?

Once issued Ofwat expects the new guidance to be sufficient to operate both in the period up to the full opening of the market in April 2017 and beyond.

Deadline for responses to the consultation is by close of business on Friday 17 April 2015. Click here to access the consultation document