The Panel (retired)
The Code Panel was the senior industry group that oversaw the operation and evolution of the water retail market. It handed governance responsibilities to the Strategic Panel on 1 March 2022.
The introduction of competition in water and wastewater retail services aims to increase efficiency, drive down prices and improve customer service. The Panel supports these goals by providing independent strategic governance to the market. It keeps the market codes under review, making sure that they are operating effectively and that they evolve in a way that:
- Improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the market
- Promotes competition
- Benefits end customers
- Makes regulatory intervention a last resort.
Market Governance Review
Following the approval of CPM039: 'Revisions to Panel Composition', the Panel is in a Transition Period from 1 September 2021 until the new Strategic Panel and Code Change Committee are appointed. The Transition Period will be completed within six months following which the current Panel's responsiblities will be transferred to these new groups. Please refer to the Market Governance Review page for further information on the transition.
What does the Panel do?
Supported by MOSL, the Panel’s primary functions are to:
- Oversee code changes and make recommendations to Ofwat on any changes that may be required
- Review and provide advice on market audit reports, market performance, market entry assurance and reassurance and trading disputes
- Consider and input into the market operator’s budget and charges.
Panel Members
The Panel is made up of elected members from wholesale and retail water companies, plus three independent (non-water industry) members appointed by MOSL.
Members are obliged to be impartial and act in the best interests of the market and its participants, not those of a particular person or organisation.
In addition to members of the Panel, a number of other people may attend and speak but not vote at the meetings, including the CEO of MOSL, Ofwat and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).
Priority Outcomes
The Panel’s priorities in relation to market outcomes remain consistent with previous years and are outlined under five main headings:
- Customer led benefits
- Efficiency and Effectiveness
- Resilience
- Simplicity and Accessibility
- Good Governance and Working Practice.
Priority Focus Areas
To deliver against its priority outcomes the Panel supports the following areas of focus:
- Efficient market governance and an effective Panel that focuses on customer outcomes when assessing change.
- Codes which are easily navigable and accessible to Trading Parties and easy for market entrants to understand.
- Bilateral arrangements that are consistent and efficient and no longer a cause of friction.
- Metering arrangements that are efficient and effective and support robust market data and good customer outcomes.
- A performance framework that drives efficient and effective outcomes for customers and processes that create the right data to deliver benefits to the market and customers.
- Market systems which are robust, scalable and support ongoing evolution and efficient change in the market.
Panel Meetings
FAQs
Not all papers are publicly available due to confidentiality, therefore they will not be publicly available on the website to view.
To view all open Panel vacancies, please visit the Panel Elections page.
To view all vacancies for a committee, please visit the Committee Nominatons page.
If there are any outputs you think are missing from a Panel meeting, please contact us.
Please contact us if you would like to observe a meeting.