BW moorings price review 2012
20 February 2012
Over the past few months my regional teams have thoroughly reviewed the market conditions for BW moorings. The following factors were looked at to determine what increases or decreases there should be:
- Condition
- Facilities
- Occupancy levels
- Supply and demand
- Past auction prices
We've tried, wherever possible, not to increase prices and for the majority of moorings we were able to do that. But for residential moorings, and in some urban locations, demand drastically outstrips supply.
As a Public Corporation, we're required to operate on a commercial basis and, as with all commercial organisations, to operate fairly and within competition law. To ensure we do this, BW has a long standing Fair Trading policy and, in relation to moorings, this means we canât charge less than the market will bear.
In summary, 52% of sites will have no increase, 39% will see an increase of between 1% & 5%, 7% of sites have been increased above 5% and 2% will see a reduction in their current rate.
We believe the evidence is strong enough to be confident of our conclusions â every âmarket areaâ report is published online. That said, we appreciate that some customers will want to challenge our decision.
So if, after reading the market area report, you're still not happy then write to me explaining why you think we're wrong. Please explain your reasoning, including evidence such as price and descriptions of nearby privately operated mooring sites. The reports are very thorough and, without information to the contrary, I can't be expected to withdraw the change. We will consider your appeal and I'll respond in writing within two weeks. If you are still not satisfied, you may request that the matter is dealt with through our formal complaints procedure.
In the future, it is proposed to carry out annual pricing reviews on a rolling basis by market area. This may mean that some areas will have another review in the next 12 months but then not for three years.
Pricing moorings is a balancing act â regardless of the ethical argument, we can't undercut private operators but, at the same time, we have to be competitive or our customers would go elsewhere. Weâve tried (and I'm confident we have) to base this price review on cold hard facts. Yes some prices have gone up (for those with the type or location of mooring in high demand) but for the majority there was no increase at all. From our perspective the outcome is fair.
Contact Jenny via email at jenny.whitehall@britishwaterways.co.uk
view all blogs by Jenny Whitehall »
view all bloggers »
return to the blog homepage »
blog rss feed »
