All non-domestic customers in Scotland are metered unless it is not practicable to do so. For those non-domestic customers who are not metered, the charge is set on the basis of the amount of water they are likely to use.
Retail Competition
There is retail competition (that is, competition in the provision of customer-facing activities such as billing, charge collection, meter-reading and complaints handling etc.) for non-domestic customers in Scotland. This means they can choose their water retailer, which must be licensed by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS). Information about the retail licensing regime, as administered by WICS, can be found on its website along with a list of licensed providers.
Retail competition means that the water charge setting framework, including Scottish Ministers' high level charging principles, now only apply to the wholesale charge that Scottish Water levies on licensed retailers for non-domestic customers. Retailers can agree their own charges with customers, subject to them being no higher than a default tariff set by WICS.
Scottish Water produces a non-domestic wholesale charges scheme each year and submits it to WICS for approval. Scottish Water then charges retailers, including its own retail arm Business Stream, the appropriate wholesale charge for each of the services the retailers' customers receive.
Scottish Water is still entirely responsible for the provision of water and waste water services to all customers and for maintaining the public system.
There is currently an exemption from water and sewerage charges for which some small organisations may be eligible. This scheme is administered by Scottish Water but customers should apply to the scheme through their licensed provider. More information is available from Business Stream's website.