The water retail market operator (MOSL) is on track to move out of London by January 2019 to cut costs.
The company made a commitment in its business plan to review its location. It said it has “progressed quickly” with this plan and is on track to complete the move by end of January 2019.
In its latest quarterly report – published today (13 August) – MOSL said it has identified two potential office locations in Southampton, both providing a “good future home” for its staff and a hub for trading parties to meet.
MOSL’s 2017 “CEO member survey” indicated that trading parties would favour a move, and there was a vote to approve the cost to enable the relocation last May.
The company said the increase of £2.2 million in the its 2018/19 budget will enable it to deliver savings of £7.4 million (undiscounted) over a 10-year period and accelerate its move to a “stable organisation”.
In the report, MOSL chief executive Chris Scoggins wrote: “I will continue to reach out to members who expressed concerns around the re-location to discuss how we can continue to support you and your organisation and maintain a high level of engagement across the industry.”
MOSL’s report for Q1 2018/19 said the total number of supply point switches, to the end of July, stood at 156,150. This represents 5.8 per cent of the 2.7 million supply points in the market and 12.6 per cent at a consumption level.
It also said retailers have continued to perform consistently in market performance standards terms at a market level across the last six months with an average achievement rate of 75 per cent across five of the six months.
Wholesalers, too, have improved their performance against these standards, with overall achievement in June surpassing 75 per cent, compared with 64 per cent at the end of the previous quarter.
MOSL said that, although this is a positive sign, there continues to be a “large range” in the level of performance of wholesalers on new connections and meter reading. The company said it will “continue to monitor” this over the coming quarter.