Ofwat has approved a proposal by MOSL, the market operator for the retail water sector, to tackle incorrectly paired supply points in the Central Market Operating System (CMOS).
The water sector regulator said that incorrectly paired supply points have been identified as a high priority data issue for market participants. CMOS holds the data of each supply point (SPID) which is accessible to both wholesalers and retailers - issues with the data in CMOS can limit the effectiveness of the retail market.
Currently, there are approximately 450,000 SPIDs which are unpaired in England – as a result there are around 450,000 premises which could have only one water or sewerage provider.
While a certain number of eligible premises are expected to receive only one type of service, Ofwat said concerns had been raised that the number of eligible premises currently in the market with only one type of service “appears unduly high.”
According to Ofwat, the unpaired SPIDs can create a range of issues, including the wrong calculation for charges being submitted to the customer, which can in turn impact on customers’ trust and confidence in the water market.
The regulator has now approved MOSL’s proposal to enhance the existing functionality available in the Central System and introduce new functionality in order to support data improvements and sustainable management of SPID pairing activities. Previously, the CMOS platform did not promote the identification of genuinely unpaired SPIDs.
September 2018 saw highest monthly switching rate in financial year to date
According to the latest market data charts published by MOSL for September, switches at the end of the month represented 6.6 per cent of the 2,671,822 supply points in the market. This represents a switching rate of 13.8 per cent in terms of consumption - the highest monthly switching so far in the financial year 2018/19. “In addition, there is a modest but clear upward trend in the monthly switching rate over the same period.” MOSL said.
Highest number of gains this month were by Business Stream, followed by Everflow, Water Plus and Clear Business.
Market Performance Operating Plan published
On 3 October MOSL published its Market Performance Operating Plan (MPOP), which sets out clear priorities and targeted activities to drive improved performance in the market.
The Market Operator is prioritising the activities that tackle the market-level data issues impacting on the accuracy of consumption information, including:
- missing meter reads
- incomplete meter asset information
- unpaired water and sewerage supply points
MOSL said the activities being progressed around data would have an impact on the efficiency of switching.
In addition, under a marketwide data improvement planning exercise with wholesalers and retailers, the trading parties submitted data improvement plans to MOSL at the beginning of September.
The plans will be reviewed and then tracked at both an individual trading party and a market level.
Click here to access MOSL's market data charts
Click here to download the Market Performance Operating Plan
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