Ofwat must decide whether to extend the approach of Scotland’s Central Market Agency (CMA) to England or develop its own system from scratch.
Alan Sutherland, chief executive of Wics, insisted there should be a common registration and settlement system. “There is an opportunity to use what we have in Scotland and roll that out,”
he said, adding: “We are certainly not going to change our systems without seeing that another one can work.”
Ofwat head of market reform Tom Kiedrowski said his team was working closely with Wics but “would not take lock, stock and barrel what they have in Scotland”.
“They have to be compatible,” he said. “But we have to make sure it works in a bigger market, and we have to look at the evidence of how effective the CMA system is in Scotland, and is it scalable?”
Ofwat intends to open the retail market to businesses in April 2015, provided the government’s promised Water Bill passes in the next parliamentary session.
Prime minister David Cameron last week said a draft bill would be published “in the coming months”.
Wics implemented Scotland’s retail market in four years, after relevant legislation had been passed. Ofwat plans to do it in three, before legislation.
Kiedrowski said the timetable was achievable, saying lessons from Scotland and the energy sector meant Ofwat was “not starting from ground zero”.
by Megan Darby
This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 27 January 2012.
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