Clear Business wins Aquaflow customers in first use of interim supply code

Ofwat last week announced it has selected Clear Business Water to take on Aquaflow’s customers, after the retailer became insolvent.

In the first use of the Interim Supply Code, the regulator allocated all of Aquaflow’s 74 customers to Clear, which beat four other retailers to the accounts.

Ofwat elected a single licensee should take on the customers, and assessed bids from five retailers who had opted in to the reallocation pool and suited the supply points on offer. It specified the desirable characteristics of the incoming retailer as:

• managing the new customers with no impact on existing customers;

• allowing customers’ credit balances to be honoured/carried over;

• providing eligible credit support as defined in the Wholesale Retail Code; and

• providing the bespoke services Aquaflow did, particularly trade effluent.

Ofwat said Clear Businessprovided the strongest offer against these criteria, and performed well on price and non-price terms, offering default tariff based charging and “thorough” terms including on billing, customer obligations, metering and disconnection.