Benefits of competition

Scotland and England have separate water markets that work differently. Find our how they work and the benefits they can deliver to your business.

What are the benefits?

Get in touch about switching

  1. How does competition work in Scotland

    Scottish Water are the wholesaler and there are licensed providers who are the retailer, who buy the water from Scottish Water. All suppliers buy the same water but the customer gets to choose who serves them with their water services. This arrangement is only available to non-domestic (business) customers.

    There is a maximum price that retailers can sell the water at and they all are heavily regulated by a default set of service standards that serve to protect customers and remove price volatility.

    Learn more about governance and compliance at Business Stream.

  2. Why was competition introduced in Scotland?

    Competition was introduced into Scotland in order to give business customers choice and to improve customer service, value for money and innovation across the water utilities market.

  3. How does water competition work in England?

    It isn’t the same as Scotland. Not all businesses can switch supplier. You have to meet certain criteria:

    • non-domestic customer
    • consume 5ML (mega litres) plus and at any one site (i.e. you can’t add all your sites up so that they come to 5ML – it has to be within a single boundary).

    and it isn’t for all water services, you can only switch water – not waste water, trade effluent or any drainage costs.

    Hopefully customers will benefit from full retail competition in the future. The Water White paper published by Defra in December outlined the future of water in England and Wales. It spelled out full non-domestic retail competition but the timetables for rolling this out aren’t yet known.

  4. Is it not the same in England and Wales?

    No - they’re different. In Wales there is no form of competition for non-household customers. In England you can only switch your water supply (not waste, drainage or trade effluent) and you have to use more than 5ML at one site.

  5. What has competition delivered in Scotland?

    We’ve been able to deliver real benefits to customers through retail competition:

    • £19m in consumption savings
    • 60% of customers paying less than the default charges
    • customer satisfaction increased by 11% since the market
    • £28m worth of discounts available
    • public sector customers saved over £20m over 3 years
    • 12,000 tonnes of CO2 saved.
  6. When will there be full competition in England? What's happening, when?

    Defra published a Water White paper outlining the future of the water market in England and Wales in December 2011. The main highlights from that paper are:

    • The Government put forward a Water Bill that will reduce the threshold for switching to zero megalitres and will expand it to include waste water, drainage and trade effluent.
    • The Welsh Government has confirmed that their current switching threshold shall remain the same i.e. only sites 5ML and above will be able to switch.

    A draft water bill was then published on 10 July 2012 by Defra. In a nutshell, England is going to follow Scotland’s lead in creating a competitive water market for non-household customers. Remember if you have a site that consumes 5Ml or above you can switch your water supply now.

  7. How do I switch supplier?

    In Scotland speak to us before doing anything. We’ll see if we can save you money or offer you a package that suits your business.

    In England you need to meet the criteria for switching. If you meet the criteria then get in touch, we would love to talk to you about your business and what we could do to help you keep running.

    We already work with a range of companies that have sites across the UK, where we help them to reduce their water consumption and costs.

  8. What can I do to reduce my water costs?

    Firstly we have a whole range of water efficiency services that can be tailored to suit all scales of business and help cut down on water consumption.

    If you are looking for ways to make bills more manageable then we have a range of water discounts and offers.

    For innovative ways to fund investment into water efficiency you can learn from our partnership with Glasgow City Council.

    To find out about our full range of targeted products and services for your business, see Services for your business.

What competition means for you

In Scotland all businesses can switch but in England only the largest water users can switch.

Enquire about competition

Want to register your interest about switching or simply want to know more market competition?