Ofwat has flagged up the opportunity for commercial businesses to become their own water and sewerage services supplier when the retail market opens to competition from April next year.
The water industry regulator is inviting interested companies to find out more about the process – known as self-supply – in the latest edition of its On the case newsletter published yesterday.
The news letter explains that potential applicants interested in supplying their own business with retail services or in becoming a retailer to other businesses can now apply to Ofwat for a licence.
In the new market, it will be possible for individual eligible customers to opt to become their own retailer and self-supply with retail services. This will allow them to supply their own sites and those of persons associated with them, but will not allow them to become a retailer for any other sites.
The retailers will hold a water supply and sewerage licence (WSSL) granted by Ofwat authorising them to use the supply system of an appointed water and/or sewerage company whose area is wholly or mainly in England.
The WSSL licence application fee is £5,250 per application – this reflects the costs incurred by Ofwat to undertake the necessary assessments and run the associated public consultation.
Ofwat has received a total of 17 applications for WSSL licences since the process in April – none of which are from commercial organisations seeking to self-supply.
Businesses that want to find out more about the process of applying for a licence to self-supply are being invited to contact Ofwat for an informal chat at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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