Is the Welsh water market deregulated?

The Welsh water market is only deregulated for a small number of high-consumption businesses. Most companies and organisations cannot choose their water supplier in Wales.

The English non-household water market was deregulated in 2017, but the Welsh government decided not to pursue deregulation.

The exception is businesses that consume over 50 million litres of water annually. As an idea, this is equivalent to the consumption of 400 average households. In practice, only businesses that use a lot of water as a part of the production, e.g. aluminium smelting, can choose who suppliers their water services.

For more information on the impact of deregulation on large Welsh business customers, here’s the guidance from Dwr Cymri Welsh Water.