The water consumer watchdog CCW has begun a campaign to inform non-household customers about new rights to have their credit balance refunded within 60 days of a customer switching water supplier.
The ‘Credit where it’s due’ campaign has been launched to help businesses avoid losing their money if their supplier exits the market.
Following a code modification approved by Ofwat in January, retailers must inform their customers about the risks and benefits associated with making advance payments on their accounts. They also must inform billpayers about alternative payment options available and how much credit has built up in their accounts. A retailer will have 60 days from the final bill to return any remaining credit to a customer opting to switch supplier.
CCW said it will work with water retailers to make sure businesses know about their right to have money returned when they change supplier and that if their retailer were to exit the market, they could lose credit accrued in their account.
Research carried out by Ofwat in 2019 and 2020 suggested credit held by retailers was in excess of £100 million, of which 15% was related to customers who had switched suppliers. Retailers have not previously been obliged to inform billpayers about accrued credit or tell them about the risks associated with retailers exiting the market.
CCW’s campaign aims to address that with clear messages for all non-household customers and it has created a communication toolkit to effectively spread the message. It will engage directly with businesses and representative organisations to ensure they understand their rights.
The group will continue to campaign for credit to be automatically returned to business customers annually from April 2023 with an opt out function.
At the start of the pandemic, the Market Operator MOSL and Ofwat implemented code changes to protect businesses customers that were unable to trade during lockdown.
This included the suspension of market performance charges, protections relating to bad debt and permitting vacancy flags on businesses’ accounts to prevent them being charged when closed.