If awareness levels remain the same as in Scotland, Businesses in England could be set to miss out on up to £2 billion in potential savings when the non-household retail market opens for competition in 2017, according to research conducted by Clear Business Water.
Research carried out by the firm, the largest independent water and wastewater services supplier in Scotland, has found 47% of Scottish SMEs only switched because their new provider informed them they are now able to.
Since the opening of the non-domestic water market in Scotland, over 359 thousand SMEs and businesses have had the opportunity to choose from a variety of suppliers, each providing a different offering regarding price and service levels. However, the research indicates that despite the opportunity to save money, even after 8 years, 168 thousand SMEs are yet to switch, resulting in an estimated £138 million in savings missed out on every year.
John O’Donnell, sales director at Clear Business Water commented:
‘One of the challenges has been building the trust that we can provide better rates without any disruption to the service. Even 8 years down the line we are still informing businesses they have the option to switch.’
According to Clear Business Water, while Scotland has seen significant investment by both regulatory bodies and by licensed suppliers in order raise awareness among SMEs, it appears that more work may still be required in order to ensure the entire market is informed of the options available to them.
With the opening of the retail market in England next year, an additional 5.4 million SMEs could benefit from the same opportunities enjoyed by the Scottish market.
However, according to Clear Business Water, given the current apparent lack of awareness within the Scottish SME community, this raises the prospect that potentially some 2.5 million SMEs in England alone could still be unaware of the options by 2025, if the English market follows the trends set in Scotland, thereby missing out on up to £2 billion in potential savings.
Stewart Yardley, Clear Business Water operations director, added:
‘We have put a lot of time and resources into making sure we provide a high level of service but we’ve also had to spend resources making SMEs aware that they can switch.‘”
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