4 October 2007
Ofwat has given its seal of approval to Scottish & Southern Energy's bid to become the first new water and sewerage company since UK utilities were privatised 18 years ago.
SSE Water (SSEW) will provide water and sewerage services to households at housing development The Portway in Salisbury, with further projects in the pipeline.
The agreement has been welcomed by Tim Wolfenden, Head of Home Services at uSwitch.com, who described it as "small, but significant" for the water industry.
"Although the number of households that Scottish & Southern Energy will be supplying water to is low, the implication behind it is significant and consumers, the water industry and other potential new entrants will be watching with interest," he said.
"This is the first time that a company entering the market will be able to install, own, operate and supply water and sewerage services to households and will be a test of how competition could be injected into the market in the future.
"Scottish and Southern Energy comes with an excellent pedigree in customer service - voted top energy supplier three times in a row for customer satisfaction. This has clearly not gone unnoticed by Ofwat and I suspect that the regulator will be hoping that Scottish & Southern Energy's success in this area may be the kick that the water companies need to start taking customer service seriously," he added.
© 2008 Adfero Ltd
Content for the uSwitch.com market news service is provided by a third party, Adfero Ltd. Whilst uSwitch.com makes reasonable efforts to check the reliability of this content, uSwitch.com does not guarantee the accuracy thereof or endorse the views or opinions given by Adfero Ltd, unless expressly stated otherwise.