LONON, England - Coca-Cola European Partners Great Britain will supply its own water and wastewater services, making it the fourth company in England.
This is a growing trend in the UK, with Greene King, Marston’s PLC and Whitbread are the other companies which sit alongside Coca-Cola with a licence to self-supply.
Coca-Cola operates 12 sites, six of which are manufacturing sites. The four companies together serve 14,178 sites across the UK.
The business retail water market launched in April 2017 and was designed to allow businesses, public bodies and charities to ‘shop around’ and choose the best retailer for them, rather than having to use their local water supplier.
As well as being able to choose a different retailer, eligible businesses and organisations can also apply for a self-supply license, which is granted by economic regulator Ofwat.
This means they provide their own retail services, such as meter readings, to their own premises and those of persons associated with them. For some, this route offers significant cost savings and flexibility.
Nick Brown, head of sustainability for Coca-Cola European Partners, said: “The introduction of a competitive water market in England gives us a great opportunity to build closer relationships with the Water Companies. I am confident that this approach, along with our partnership with Waterscan, will help us to collaborate and innovate in the way we understand and improve our water efficiency. One of the most immediate examples of this is in the way we will move to real time metering at all our main sites to give us better information to make decisions on how we use water.”
Emma Kelso, Ofwat’s senior director for customers and sasework, said: “It’s good to see Coca-Cola European Partners, the world’s largest independent Coca-Cola bottler, opting to become a self-supplier. They recognise the value of the opportunities the business retail market provides and it will be interesting to see what types of innovation and efficiencies will emerge from Coca-Cola running their water and wastewater services.”
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