Retail competition in the water industry
The Government has recently made some changes to the provision of water services in England.
The change means that if your business has a site or sites which
consume more than 5 million litres of water a year, you may have the option to choose your retail water supplier for each of these sites.
What the changes mean for your business
If your business uses more than 5 million litres of water a year and you have an alternative retail supplier who you wish to move to, the new supplier would be responsible for:
- Meter reading
- Billing and customer services in relation to your water services.
We would continue to manage the water infrastructure and supply your water, but all customer service activities would be managed by your new retail supplier.
What if your sites use less than 5 million litres per year?
If your business has a site or sites that consume less than 5 million litres per year, we would continue to supply your full water services for each of these sites. Please note that individual sites' water consumption cannot be combined together.
What about your waste water services?
As the changes only apply to water services, we would continue to provide your full waste water and trade effluent services as normal.
How we can help your business
Whatever the change in legislation, it's important to remember that we're always here to help businesses get the most from their water and sewerage services and save a little money too. Here are a few examples of how we could help your business:
Understanding your water use and where it might be being wasted
We're saving businesses 7.5 million litres of water a day and nearly £7 million a year.
There are a number of ways we can help your business save water, whether it's by conducting a
water audit to show where you could reduce water and effluent costs or by pointing you in the right direction to buy and install
water saving devices like infra red urinals or electronic taps.
See how we can help
Help with bills to see where your business can save money
We can
analyse the water and waste water bills and tariffs for your site and look at historical bills to identify areas where your business could make savings e.g. checking whether you're being charged correctly by your water supplier and telling you about rebates you might be entitled to.
See how we can help
Identify where your business might be losing water
We have a
flow monitoring service which can help you to understand your business' water use and identify areas where water is being wasted, for example through leaks or high use.
See how we can help
Protecting your business in winter
In winter 2010 many of our customers including businesses, schools and farms encountered problems with frozen and burst pipes as the cold snap spread across Yorkshire. We've recently been helping our business customers so that they will be better prepared is such extreme temperatures hit us again, providing
advice on our website , as well as giving out leaflets and posters.
See how we can help
Investing in Yorkshire businesses
We're investing £3.5 billion between 2010 - 2015, and this will benefit businesses across Yorkshire. We have 1,000 individual suppliers across the region, some of whom employ a large number of people who'll be spending their wages right here in Yorkshire, benefiting other businesses - think of it like a ripple effect.
Find out more about where we're investing and how it might benefit your business
There are loads of other products and services we provide which can help your business. Give us a call on
0845 6 789 789 or
click here to learn more .
Network access codes (licensees only)
Our network access code provides potential licensees with the necessary information and process requirements to enable them to apply and enter into an access agreement with us.
The code is here for any licensee to download. Potential licensees can use the common contract or our draft wholesale master agreement. Both of these are referred to in our code, with full instructions of how to apply, and both are available to download below.
If you've any queries contact the Network Access Co-ordinator at the address on the left.
Download Network access code
(1.14 mb)
Download the Ofwat Access Code Guidance including the Common Code and Contract (418 kb)
Download our Draft Wholesale Master Agreement
(226 kb)
