Switching water supplier

koru

Apparently from 1 April 2017, small businesses and charities can choose their supplier of water and wastewater services. Has anyone looked into switching and whether it saves any money? Any tips?

koru

There are some useful comparisons in the tables here:
https://www.businesselectricityprices.org.uk/water-prices/

We are with Affinity for water supply, which is not in the table, but we pay less than any of the ten water companies listed, so I'm happy. And we are with Thames for wastewater, which is also cheap.

In other regions, looks like it would be good to switch.

koru

Turns out Thames has sold us to Castle Water, but their wastewater charges seem to be even lower than Thames:
https://www.castlewater.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Scheme-of-Charges-Thames-1.pdf

Savvy_Sue

I've been contacted by one of the companies which does the running around for you, and they reckon we can save £5 per year. Not sure we will bother ...

koru

Castle are offering £50 for a switch.

Affinity are offering a £25 annual reduction if existing water customers shift their waste water contract to Affinity. I'm waiting for them to tell me their tariff (to compare with Castle).

AbbieCadabra

I contacted 4 companies over a week ago enquiring about switching to them & asking for tariff info, none have them have even bothered replying as yet!

koru

Yes, I get the impression most of them have not really started any serious competition. It took quite a bit of digging to find Castle, who are offering an incentive to switch.

In most cases, I could not find any tariff info via the menus on their websites, although I had more luck for some of them by doing a google search.

Judging by the differentials in pricing in the table that I linked, I imagine most of them are just taking a defensive attitude and hoping that they don't lose too much custom. Although maybe the difference in rates just reflects different cost levels in different regions, so they might not reflect the rates that those companies would offer in new regions.

I found a good summary of the main players here: http://wwtonline.co.uk/features/close-up-who-will-be-the-big-fish-in-the-new-water-retail-market-#.WTFjFTOZNUc

koru

Ah, the £50 incentive for Castle Water is only for two particular areas:
https://www.castlewater.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/FAQs-50-Cashback-Offer-.pdf

Those FAQs also say: "Our water tariff will be no different to your current water tariff which is set by Ofwat. Customers in the Thames and Portsmouth area can view specific Scheme of Charges documents in our useful documents section. In other areas of England, tariffs are set as default by Ofwat for each service area and this information can be found on your current water supplier's website."

If the tariff is set by the regulator, then what's the point of this right to switch? Is it just about small incentives to attract customers?

AbbieCadabra

I got the info here, few pages of info & eligibility & then there's a link to all the suppliers/retailers with their contact info/website. it refers to getting the best deal/lowering bills/charges so I assumed different tariffs, just like the energy market? but perhaps not based on that info from Castle, the market doesn't seem overly clear at the moment?!

koru

Perhaps the Offwat tariff is just a cap, so companies can go lower if they wish. Though they will have to purchase the underlying services, just as broadband suppliers have to pay OpenReach for the underlying phone infrastructure. Presumably Offwat sets the tariff for that, too, so the water "retailers" will have to cover these costs.

koru

I found out a bit more information. I had a quote from a company called Everflow. They gave me a quote for combined water and sewage which is £245, but the interesting thing is that they break it down into £205, which they say is the wholesale price set by the regulator, which they have to pay for these services, plus £40 service charge to cover meter reading, billing and customer service.

They reckon I'm currently being charged £50 for admin, so they are saving me £10. It looks like switching is unlikely to save much, because any alternative supplier has a fixed cost for the water and sewage. All they can do is shave a bit off the amount to cover admin.

I'm going to stick with Affinity, as they are offering £25 off per year if I shift waste water to them. That's starting to seem like a good deal.