In April 2017, businesses, charities and public sector organisations in England were given a choice to shop around for a supplier of water and sewerage retail services. Retail services include meter reading, billing and handling customer queries and complaints.

By switching, or negotiating with their current supplier, non-household customers could secure a better price or a more tailored service.

Am I eligible?

Changes to water regulations lowered the usage threshold in England to zero.  That means that if you are a water bill payer and operate a business, charity, or public sector organisation out of a non-household premises, you can switch to one of the 20 or so retailers.

Customers who pay a landlord for their water won’t be able to shop around.  And non-household customers based in Wales will have to use at least 50 million litres of water a year to switch water retailer.

What are the benefits?

If you negotiate with your retailer you could achieve a number of benefits like:

• Lower price
• Better customer service
• Tailored services
• Water efficiency
• Consolidated suppliers and bills

Can I get more information?

You can find out more about the retail market, including which retailers are operating in it, by visiting www.open-water.org.uk.

How CCWater supports you

We worked with market designers to ensure they took customers views into account. Now that the market is open for business we will monitor how well retailers are performing. We will take up individual complaints from non-household customers who haven’t been able to resolve the matter with their service provider.

For more information, email enquiries@ccwater.org.uk or call us on 0300 034 2222.