Thames Water is stepping up its attack on the Scottish water market.

 

The firm has added four business development recruits to its Edinburgh-based operation in a bid to grab a greater share of the £330million market for business water users.

Thames has grown its site base from 60 to 600 since last May and says it is now aiming to double the number of its business customers with the promise of cheaper water and wastewater solutions.

Thames has recruited Peter Callaghan as strategic accounts manager, Garry Temple as broker and intermediary account manager, Kevin Durnian as business development manager for the East of Scotland and Jamie McDonald for the same role in theWest of Scotland.

Alan Munro, who heads the reinforced Scottish team, said: "Scotland is the first country in the world to deregulate its water market. Any business here can switch provider, yet, due to a lack of awareness, less than 10per cent have moved."

Thames has made inroads into the hotel market, claiming to save bigger hotels up to 20 per cent on bills and potentially a further 30 per cent on water management.

Since 2008, when the retail market was opened to competition in Scotland, around 130,000 non-household customers in Scotland have been able to choose their supplier, with England set to follow suit in three years' time.

Mr Munro said: "As a team we are all fully committed to saving clients money and providing a great customer experience."

But James Cardwell-Moore, director of sales and marketing at Business Stream, said its customers had saved more than £100m since 2008.

"We've retained a large proportion of the market on merit, through a determined focus on customer needs, excellent service and competitive pricing, rather than by offering unsustainable discounts."

Business Stream says that despite competition from 13 rivals its market share remains at around 87 per cent.

Scottish Water chief executive Douglas Millican has said there is a major opportunity for Business Stream to compete in the English market when it opens to competition in April 2017