Inset Appointments

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Inset appointments

The inset appointment process is the route by which one company replaces the incumbent as the appointed water and/or sewerage company for a specified area. As such the replacement appointed water company will have all of the same duties and responsibilities as the previous statutory water company for the specified area.

There are three circumstances in which an inset appointment can be granted:

For an area in which each of the premises of one or more customers is supplied (or is likely to be supplied) with not less than 50,000 cubic metres of water in England (250,000 cubic metres of water in Wales) in any period of 12 months. The same inset criterion applies in relation to inset appointments for sewerage services (the 'large user' criterion);
For an area which is not served by an incumbent appointed company - an 'unserved site'. This includes an area that may be currently supplied by unregulated or 'private' supplies with its own source of water. This criterion has to be met for both water and sewerage services included in the inset appointment application;
For an area if the incumbent appointed company consents to transfer that area to the inset appointee.

In order for an inset appointment application to progress the applicant must satisfy us fully that it is able to finance and carry out the functions of a statutory water company. If the inset applicant wishes to provide water and/or sewerage services to household customers (whether existing privately-supplied households or potential customers on a new development), we apply a higher level of scrutiny to ensure those customers would be properly supplied. Consequently, the process that the potential inset appointee follows is more comprehensive. This is because household customers have no choice in who supplies them with water and/or sewerage services. Only when we are completely satisfied that an inset applicant is financially, operationally and technically viable will we confirm that an application is complete. It may take some time to reach this stage if initial submissions are not satisfactory.

After we receive a complete application, and we have considered all the issues, we decide whether to recommend to the Director that he make the appointment. If we do so, the next stage is the publication of a statutory notice by the applicant in the local and national press with a statutory public consultation period of at least 28 days. This stage, including the consideration of any responses can last up to 12 weeks.

A successful inset appointee can serve its new customer(s) either using its own resources or by requesting the use of the incumbent appointed water company's assets.

Our publication Inset appointments – guidance for applicants provides detailed information on the inset application process.

We also publish a register of all the inset appointments that have been made.

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