Open Water, the organisation charged with delivering the competitive retail market for non-household customers, today set out the high level design of the retail market and its underlying principles.

The market will benefit all businesses, and public sector, charitable and not-for-profit organisations in England by allowing them to choose their retail supplier of water and sewerage services. The changes were set out in the Water Act 2014, which received Royal Assent in May.

Environment Minister Dan Rogerson said:

 “We want to build a stronger economy and a fairer society and the Water Act will do exactly that. From April 2017, businesses will have the freedom to switch supplier, bringing real competition into the market, and allowing businesses to seek out the deal which best suits their needs.”

 The market design is set out in a document, ‘The Market Architecture Plan’, which focuses on full implementation of the competitive retail market for non-household customers.

The document builds on an earlier iteration, the ‘Market Blueprint’ (published in January 2014). It also encompasses the outcome of discussions at a series of workshops with water company representatives and new entrants to the retail market that took place in the spring.

There will now be further opportunities for companies and other stakeholders to discuss the ideas raised in this document during the summer.

Click here to download the document

The next iteration of the Market Architecture Plan will be published in the autumn.