MOSL and the Strategic Panel tell wholesalers to do more on water resource planning

MOSL and the non-household retail market’s Strategic Panel (SP) have welcomed changes introduced by water wholesalers in their revised draft Water Resources Management Plans (WRMPs) – but warned some and Government that there is more to do.

In a letter to wholesaler chief executives, MOSL chief, Sarah McMath, and interim SP chair, Rick Hill, noted many plans had shifted substantially for the good on water efficiency and smart metering for business customers, with many revisions showing higher ambition and greater clarity. Nonetheless, they criticised the facts that: some plans do not contain the measures needed to meet Defra’s 9% commercial demand reduction target for 2038; the least ambitious plans won’t see all NHH customers get a smart meter until 2040; some firms plan to install smart meters before having the associated infrastructure up and running to manage the returned consumption data; and some are still considering trials rather than rollouts of water efficiency services.

McMath and Hill urged the government to back a systematic rollout of smart meters, and to provide clarity on the level of reduction that will be required of NHH customers and how this will be applied (uniformly across regions or with some variation).