Ofwat has today published its final determination of a dispute between Anglian Water and Utility Law Solutions under sections 30A, 42(6) and 51C(11) of the Water Industry Act 1991.
The determination relates to the costs that Anglian Water charged relevant developers towards the provision of one of its strategic assets, the Wing Main, which is in the East of England. Our determination will result in developers receiving a refund, plus associated interest, on their contributions to date.
Richard Khaldi, Senior Director, Customers and Casework, stated:
“Casework is a key part of our toolkit. This determination supports the vision for the sector as one where all stakeholders have trust and confidence in water and wastewater services. This decision will encourage water companies to make long term investment that identifies and responds to future housing growth in a timely manner, to the benefit of both current and future customers. It also ensures a fair deal for Anglian Water’s developer services customers, since what they pay better reflects the services they are using.”
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Notes to Editors:
- Ofwat (The Water Services Regulation Authority) is the economic regulator of the water and wastewater sectors in England and Wales. It exercises its powers in a way that it judges will protect the interests of consumers, promote value and safeguard future water and wastewater services by allowing efficient companies to carry out their functions properly, and finance them.
- This dispute was referred to Ofwat on 20 October 2009 by Utility Law Solutions (who represent nine separate developers) about the costs that Anglian Water charged those developers towards the provision of one of its strategic assets, the Wing Main.
- Ofwat determined that it was appropriate for Anglian Water to include a proportion of the costs of the Wing Main in requisition and self-lay charges to developers but the level of contributions collected by Anglian Water from developers was not appropriate. We have determined that the developers’ contributions should be equal to the incremental costs of the additional capacity of the Wing Main required for new developments, beyond the capacity provided to ensure a security of supply for existing customers.
- Ofwat issued a draft determination to Anglian Water and Utility Law Solutions in December 2013 and a public consultation in February 2014 before making this final determination.
- Media enquiries to Ofwat Press Office: Benedict Fisher 0121 644 [email protected]