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Letters to Regulatory Directors
RD 12/05 26 July 2005 Dear Regulatory Director REPORTING OF WATER DISCONNECTIONS AND OTHER DEBT RELATED MATTERS: 2004-05 Ofwat has routinely collected information from companies on the number of disconnections and debt recovery actions taken through the courts. In recent years, following the implementation of the Water Industry Act 1999, we have limited this to cover the disconnection of commercial premises and the number of pre-Claims notices, County Court Claims and Judgements. This year we reviewed the usefulness of that data and have made some further changes to the information that we are requesting. We are no longer collecting information such as the number of budget payment units in place, or the split between the number of measured or unmeasured non-household premises disconnected for non-payment of water charges. Nor are we asking companies to distinguish between pre-Claims letters issued by the company and those issued by its agents. However, we are requesting other information to provide us with a more rounded picture of companies' revenue collection and debt enforcement activities, for example, the number of customers who pay their water charges by the various different payment methods and the number of different types of enforcement actions used against customers. We have included an additional annex to collect this information and ask that companies use their best endeavours to provide as much detail as possible. The additional information will help inform our work on the review of the 'Dealing with Customers in Debt' guidelines which we will undertake later in the financial year. As in previous years the information on disconnections and court actions will be placed in the Ofwat library and on our website. However, information which we are collecting for the first time this year will only be summarised at industry level in the covering summary memo. Company specific information will not be published until 2006. Three annexes containing pro-formae and explanatory notes are attached. Please do not amend the tables or definitions in any way but provide additional commentary when necessary and where requested. Please return the completed pro-formae and any additional information requested to Tracey Lopes at Ofwat's Consumer Affairs Division by 19 August 2005. Please ensure that a copy is also sent to your regional WaterVoice office. If you have any queries relating to this letter or would like an electronic copy of the pro-formae please contact Tracey Lopes on 0121 625 1402 or tracey.lopes@ofwat. gsi.gov.uk. Yours sincerely Sue Cox Head of Service and Performance Annex 1, 2 & 3 (Word - 45Kb)  |
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