Water: Focus Group
13 October 2020

Running out of water within 20 years:
What would incentivise YOU to reduce how much water your business uses?

11.00	Welcome and Introduction Karma Loveday, Water Adviser, MEUC
11.05	Running out of water within 20 years: What would incentivise YOU to reduce how much water your business uses? Led by Matt Evans, Research Director, Accent
	New data shows the 200,000 largest customers in England use 30% of all water. At present, most water saving incentives and messages are focused on households. But this is set to change. In the face of stark messages about the country running out of water within 20 years, policy attention is turning to how to encourage business customers – especially big businesses as the largest users – to use less. This will likely involve new tariffs and incentives as well as other policies. The MEUC wants any new water saving initiatives designed with business customers in mind. If they aren’t, they simply won’t work, which will perpetuate the risk of some businesses facing usage restrictions in future. We have partnered with market research company Accent to run a special focus group with MEUC members to look at what might persuade you to change how, how much, and when you use water. Would price signals work? Is good quality consumption data a prerequisite? Who would you want to work with on this?
12.30	Close