Ofwat has issued a request for information from retailers to get a better handle on their financial resilience, corporate structures and governance processes.
At present, the regulator relies on retailers providing assurance of their resilience annually and does not collect information on the corporate and governance structures post licence application. It observed: “A review of the information required as part of the Certificate of Adequacy process has highlighted some shortcomings in the accuracy, and therefore reliability, of the assurances we currently receive, including that it does not provide direct visibility of their financial resilience on a regular basis.”
It plans now to collect detailed financial information from all retailers (excluding self-supply licensees) on a biannual basis so it has better forewarning of potential risks and can take appropriate steps to protect the interests of customers, and to minimise the impact on wholesalers and the market as a whole.
Retailers have until 27 June to return the information, under Standard Condition A8 of their Water Supply and Sewerage Licence.
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