The independent Strategic Panel, the most senior industry group in the business retail water market, has published its final Roadmap to a Flourishing Market. This follows a recent consultation on the draft roadmap.
It sets out what needs to change to improve how the market functions and deliver greater benefits for customers of all sizes. Ultimately, the roadmap aims to provide Ofwat with sufficient confidence that customers will remain protected and could benefit from a move to more self-regulation and increased competition. The approach to developing the roadmap was endorsed by Ofwat and Defra.
The roadmap sets out 31 market conditions which the Panel believes need to be met for the market to begin to flourish. These conditions fall into three themes:
- Customer engagement and choice
- Accurate and accessible data; and
- Processes, capability and economics.
These conditions have been used to set out 34 actions the Panel believes need to be taken to deliver the desired market conditions. Each action is assigned to the primary stakeholder responsible and there are actions for Defra, Ofwat, the Strategic Panel, MOSL, CCW, wholesalers and retailers to deliver. The roadmap also highlights the key actions that could enable an earlier review of the Retail Exit Code (REC) price protections in the market.
Delivery of the roadmap will be the prime focus for the Panel in the coming years. It will largely replace the Panel’s Priorities document with the principal workstreams and priorities being derived from the activities set out in the roadmap.
Commenting on the roadmap, Trisha McAuley OBE, Chair of the Strategic Panel, said: “Thank you to everyone who supported the Panel along the journey to develop the roadmap. We believe it sets out a clear pathway to enable the market to begin to flourish with clear deadlines and collective accountability for delivering it.
We recognise that publishing the roadmap is the start not the end of the journey and I look forward to working closely with stakeholders to deliver the actions that can enable the market to deliver benefits for customers of all sizes.”
The final roadmap and supporting appendices can be found here. The roadmap was launched at the Strategic Panel’s Open Forum in London on 23rd September and the materials can be found here.
