The Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS), has decided to withdraw from the opening of the English water market to competition in April 2017, according a report in Utility Week this morning.
The news follows on the back of last week’s announcement by English water industry regulator Ofwat of another series of changes in the delivery structure to support the opening of the non -household retail market.
WICS Chief Excutive Alan Sutherland told Utility Week :
“Ofwat wanted us to take full responsibility for the opening of the market. In reality, we couldn’t, simply because we were not charged with doing everything. We have explored options as to how the existing framework could have been continued through OWML, but that’s not been something Ofwat wants to do. When Ofwat says it wants to transition and give responsibility to MOSL, we have made it clear that’s not something that given its constitution at this stage we could involve ourselves with.”
The news is likely to once again create uncertainty in the marketplace as to how the market will operate. In February Ofwat unveiled its latest plan for market opening in 2017 after a proposal for the Water Industry Commission for Scotland to oversee the programme was turned down by the WICS Board in January.
Ofwat has yet to make any formal announcement about WICS’ withdrawal – but the regulator’s announcement last week said that WICS would be among the organisations able to propose changes to the market codes for the competitive marketplace and one of several invited observers on the interim panel it was establishing to support market opening.
Enpure Ltd and Clean TeQ Water Ltd have announced a collaboration agreement to bring Clean TeQ Water's Moving Bed Ion Exchange-based nutrient removal technologies to water utilities across the UK.
Near-real-time microbial monitoring of wastewater discharge and bathing waters is now possible thanks to the BactoSense ID solution created by Swiss-based bNovate Technologies.
ABB has launched AquaMaster+™, a digital platform for smart water network management, designed to help water utilities monitor, analyze and manage their water networks, preventing pipeline water losses and optimizing operations.
Craig Nienaber, Business Development Manager for Safe Access Solutions (SAS) at HUBER Technology, explores why the company is seeing a growing level of interest in its safe access solutions for critical infrastructure providers, including their application in wastewater treatment assets.
Southern Water has released film and images showing what it’s like to walk inside Hampshire’s expanded Yew Hill underground reservoir for the very last time, before it gets filled with water.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.