Severn Trent Services currently offers business customers a range of water and wastewater services, including asset management, management of private pipelines — including pipe laying, maintenance and leakage detection and water hygiene services. The recommendations in the Government White Paper mean the company will be able to offer these customers an increased number of services and efficient solutions across water and sewage supplies, which will lead to cost reductions, a better deal and improved service for customers across the UK.

Severn Trent Services said the reforms will enable a significantly larger number of business customers to benefit from the range of innovative water retail and associated site services which Severn Trent Services can offer to customers on a national basis.

Severn Directory of Strategy and Regulation Trent Tony Ballance said "We still need to go through the all important details, but we are encouraged by much of what we see in the white paper as it supports the agenda we have supported through our own Changing Course publications on the future of the water industry and water trading.

"We have long argued that customers and the environment could benefit from promoting the inter-connectivity of water supplies (through water trading); reforming abstraction licensing; and promoting more catchment management. It is good to see these feature significantly in the white paper.