Ofwat minded to streamline third party access to business consumption data

(by Karma Loveday)

Ofwat is consulting until 10 March on its ‘minded to’ decision to enable MOSL to share business user water consumption data with authorised third parties, where customer consent has been evidenced.

Under amendment CPM060 to the Market Arrangements Code and CPW156 to the Wholesale Retail Code, third parties will be able to submit a single request to the market operator covering a customers' property portfolio, rather than needing to submit multiple requests to different wholesalers or retailers to acquire this information. This will save time and money. According to the consultation: “The inability to access complete and reliable water data prevents stakeholders from benchmarking performance, identifying investment opportunities for water efficiency, and improving sustainability performance as much as they should.”

The access would take place under a new, published policy, which would deal with matters including governance arrangements for handling requests (including oversight by a steering group with data protection expertise) and customer consent requirements. MOSL will be permitted to charge for responses to requests for consumption data, but these charges will be set at a cost-neutral level.

The change was proposed by Arbnco, a software and data service company that seeks to assist its real estate clients with measuring, reporting and improving environmental, social, and governance reporting.