The firm’s chief financial officer James Bowling told Utility Week he believes there is “no doubt” that the market will open on time and the company must “make sure it is ready”.
“We’re making really good progress in terms of the preparations ahead of 2017,” he said, adding that the company’s progress in Scotland “sets it up well” for the opening of the market in England in two years.
In its half-year statement on Thursday, the group said it “continues to prepare” for the opening of further competition in the non-household market in 2017, with its existing customer base providing a “great platform for growth”.
“In Scotland we’re doing really well,” said Bowling. “Sainsbury’s have renewed with us, we’ve won Mitchells and Butlers, we’ve won Greggs, so some really good names there, and I think we’re servicing around 1,000 sites in Scotland,” he said. “It’s been a very good market for us to work in.”
The market is due to open in April 2017, allowing 1.2 million businesses and other non-household customers of providers based mainly or wholly in England to choose their supplier of water and wastewater services.
It will link with the existing market in Scotland, which opened to non-household customers in April 2008.
Open Water, the programme responsible for the successful delivery of the new market, said being able to switch water and sewerage service supplier will increase choice for customers, encourage better levels of service and more tailored prices and drive sustainable approaches to managing water and wastewater.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said in September that the final go/no-go decision on whether the non-household water retail market will open as scheduled would be made only a matter of months before its set to open.