All general licence holders are required to offer all customers, regardless of their location, a default package of tariffs and services. These provisions are an important safeguard for business customers. They ensure that business customers will always have the option to choose a supplier that offers a similar price and service to that which they would have received with Scottish Water.
We have approved a default retail tariff scheme for 2008-09. It allows for a minimum retail margin of 4.5% between wholesale and retail tariffs for specific customer groups. Some margins are up to 60%. This should ensure that it is profitable for suppliers to devise efficient strategies to target any market segment during 2008-09.
The default directions is a single document that contains both the default tariffs and default standards.