The Open Water programme was initiated by the UK Government in response to The Water Act 2014. The Act enabled the creation of a new market for retail water and wastewater services for businesses and other non-household customers in England from April 2017.
The partner organisations responsible for delivering the new market are:
The structure for delivering the Open Water market is designed to:
The structure of the programme governance reflects the recommendations advised by the first independent review (the Baseline Review) conducted in early 2015.
The table below gives details of the roles and responsibilities of each programme partner.
| Defra
Market reform |
Ofwat
Market implementation |
MOSL
Market operator |
| Sets policy and legislative framework | Implementation of new market arrangements | Finalising market documents that will be set out in the Market Architecture Plan (MAP) consultations |
| Ensures implementation of retail competition is aligned with the wider legislative, regulatory and policy landscape in which the water sector operates | Developing:
|
System procurement, build and testing |
| Issues charging and other guidance to Ofwat | Programme management, coordination and engagement | Managing risks to overall market opening from the planning, delivery and readiness activities of participants |
| Co-ordinates phased commencement of relevant sections of the Water Act 2014 | Customer engagement | Company engagement |
| Signs off new market arrangements | Establishing an Interim Code Panel (ICP) | Secretariat function for Interim Codes Panel |
| Determines when market opens | Providing an overall view of readiness to Defra | Providing assurance to Defra over the effective and efficient operation of the market |
The Open Water programme is led by the Retail Market Opening Management Group which is supported by a number of reporting groups.
The Assurance Group is responsible for advising the Secretary of State in regards to market readiness.
It provides challenge to the government over the opening of the market and its implementation whenever necessary.
The group works to:
The group is made up of members from across the water industry and outside of it.
The assurance group is supported by Defra and governed by the programme’s Assurance Framework.
The Programme Group has the main responsibility for delivering the programme on a daily basis with a delegated mandate from the management group.
The programme group sees a joint approach from the partners at a working levelto identify and resolve all issues before escalation.
The programme group:
The group has is reported into by the Communications Group and the Policy Issues Group .
A working level sub group, the communications group works to deliver a joint approach to communications from all partners on the programme.
The group is chaired and supported by Ofwat with its escalation route to the programme group. It also includes representatives from Defra and MOSL.
The policy issues group is a working level sub group which works to identify and resolve issues surrounding market design and implementation.
The group escalates issues it cannot resolve to the programme group.
The Policy Issues Group includes representatives from Ofwat, Defra and MOSL.
The work plan review group meets monthly to discuss programme progress and provides a formal platform for:
The group is facilitated and supported by MOSL with issues escalated to the programme group.
The group meets monthly and includes programme group and communications group representatives from Defra, Ofwat and MOSL. Retailer and wholesaler participants in the market also make up the group.
The Work Plan Review Group’s technical work is further supported by the Chief Information Officers Forum and the Systems Ready Forum at MOSL.
The Assurance Group is responsible for advising the Secretary of State in regards to market readiness.
It provides challenge to the government over the opening of the market and its implementation whenever necessary.
The group works to:
The group is made up of members from across the water industry and outside of it.
The assurance group is supported by Defra and governed by the programme’s Assurance Framework.