Fredrick Royan, Vice President, Global Environment, Water and Waste Management Practice, Frost & Sullivan has suggested that Thames Water retail exit could be followed by other utilities.
Fredrick Royan: The UK competitive market for non-household customers opens in April 2017, and in an interesting development Thames Water has decided to transfer its retail business to Castle Water over the coming months.
In the current scenario of the UK retail water market, all non-household customers in Scotland can choose their retail water service provider whereas in England and Wales non-household customers using 5 million litres a year or more can choose their service provider.
In April 2017, the threshold of 'more than 5 million litres per year' is to be removed, which will open up the entire non-household customer base. Estimates from Thames Water indicate that this will open up the current market estimated to be around £540 million to about £2.5 billion in 2017.
Even with the opening of the market there is little margin that the retail water service companies can secure with the non-household customers. The business opportunity for retail water companies is associated to the on-site activities such as billing, customer management, leakage management, water conservation as well as on-site water and wastewater treatment needs.
The non-household customer segment is also characterised by a large range of customers from hotels, retail out-lets, cafes, super markets, industries, sites under the National Health Service and the Defence, etc. The multi-site aspect of many of these customers groups does make it an attractive segment to develop a range of innovative solutions and services to enhance and improve on-site water services.
Customers have become central to the strategy of water utilities in the UK as they embark in addressing efficiency improvement as well as customer management. Thames Water is the largest water utility in the UK and the decision of off-loading its retail water services certainly will allow it to focus on its main customer base of households and channel its efforts in the extensive infrastructure that is much need of rehabilitation and renovation to secure the much needed efficiency improvements.
It is worth adding that competition of water service in the UK household sector could open in 2020 and utilities will need to focus on their household customers in the coming years to be better equipped in capitalising on the retail opening of the household market.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
ERG, the leading supplier of odour control systems and industrial gas cleaning & thermal systems, has been awarded the coveted King’s Award for Enterprise.
Welsh Water’s new artificial intelligence-driven tool, ORAI, has been shortlisted for three categories at the prestigious British Data Awards 2026 – underscoring the company’s commitment to using cutting-edge technology to deliver better outcome for customers.
Barhale has completed work on two separate Rapid Action Taskforce Spills projects it is carrying out for Severn Trent.
Hear how Scottish Water has completed its £235 million Ayrshire Glasgow Resilience Project - customers across Greater Glasgow, Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire will now benefit from a more secure and resilient water supply.
Hear how United Utilities is accelerating its investment to reduce spills from storm overflows across the Northwest.
Find out more about the remarkable career opportunities on offer at WSP - scroll down to watch the inspirational video.