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Does the regulator OFWAT really care about customers – We think NOT!!
Over the last few years we at H²O Building Services, water cost reduction auditors , have seen many examples of OFWAT agreeing to Water Company proposals that are not in the best financial interest of commercial customers.
During 2007 / 2008 we experienced a serious issue with the way United Utilities changed it’s refund policy with OFWAT’s approval, in one specific area of the charges scheme during that time United Utilities received approval not to refund overcharges on rateable value based “surface water and highways drainage charges” yet it appeared United Utilities were sending out many notices to commercial customers informing them they were mistakenly undercharged thereby increasing charges going forward and back dating undercharges by many years. It further came to the notice of senior staff within H²O that United Utilities were in fact purchasing information from the ratings office relating to those commercial sites where business rates had increased and only targeted those commercial customers and blatantly ignored those customers where the business rates had decreased. H²O and other water consultants challenged OFWAT and pointed out to them United Utilities behaviour, which at one point was denied by United Utilities, they then came clean and an admission that they had lied resulted in a reprimand by OFWAT. Eventually after 2 years United Utilities reversed the “No refund policy” and they now have to refund any overpaid charges and give a 10% compensation payment.
We now have another prime example with Severn Trent Water who are refusing to repay commercial customers on overcharges for surface water band charges. If Severn Trent Water have overcharged for this service they will only refund over-payments back within the existing financial year up to a maximum of 12 months even if they have been overcharges 6 years or more. Here is the unfair bit, Severn Trent Water retain the right to back charge commercial customers up to 6 years if they have undercharged and this has been agreed with the regulator OFWAT.
There are other numerous scenarios where water companies are retaining monies paid by businesses up and down the UK, yet because the water companies do not of course want to refund overcharges the regulator OFWAT has supported them.
UK Companies are being ripped off for £m’s by these water companies and it’s about time we had an independent review as to OFWAT’s role.