About the Scottish Water Industry
About the Scottish Water Industry
In March 2005 the Scottish Government passed legislation allowing for competition in the water industry in Scotland. On 1st April 2008 the new competitive arrangements came into effect. For the first time ever, business customers can now choose their water supplier. Scottish Water continues to deliver water and remove wastewater, but competing supply companies carry out retail activities, such as meter reading, billing and customer support.
The supply companies bill their individual customers; Scottish Water bills the supply companies.
There has been no change to the current arrangements for domestic customers.
About the CMA
The CMA is at the hub of the competitive arrangements in the Scottish water industry, operating the computer systems that run the Market. The CMA keeps a record of supplier activities in the market, including recording which suppliers are responsible for the services at each connection point. Every month the CMA uses this information to work out the wholesale charges that suppliers must pay to Scottish Water.
The CMA is a company limited by guarantee and funded by its members. As new supply companies enter the Market they become members of the CMA. The current members of the CMA are:
Scottish Water, Business Stream, Anglian Water Business Ltd, Water2Business Ltd, Thames Water Commercial Services Ltd, Veolia Water Projects Ltd, Clear Business Water Ltd, Kelda Water Services (Retail) Ltd, Real Water (Edinburgh) Ltd, Commercial Water Solutions Ltd, Castle Water Ltd, Blue Business Water Ltd, Everflow Ltd Sutton and East Surrey Water Services Limited, Pure (CGV) Limited, Brightwater Services Ltd, Earls Gate Water Ltd, The Water Retail Company Ltd, Advanced Demand Side Management Limited, Smarta Water Ltd, Waterscan Ltd, Water Plus Ltd, Intelligent Business Water Ltd and Pennon Water Services Ltd.
As new supply companies enter the Market they will become members of the CMA. The chairman of the CMA is David Sigsworth.
The rules governing all Market Participants are set out in a Market Code and an Operational Code; these may be found on other pages of this website. The industry meets every two months as a “Technical Panel”, under the Chairmanship of the CMA, and is responsible for the ongoing development of these documents.