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Self-Lay and Requisitioning Letters
SLR 03/04 17 May 2004 Dear ColleagueSELF-LAY – LEVELS OF SERVICE AND METER FITTING The new self-lay and requisitioning provisions of the Water Act 2003 (WA03), which come into effect on May 28 2004, amend the existing Water Industry Act 1991. We assume that water companies will have reviewed their self-lay policies to ensure they comply with the new provisions. In Autumn 2004, we will start to review our guidance on 'Competition in providing new water mains and service pipes' (the self-lay guidance) to take account of the new legislation. The purpose of this letter is to inform water companies in advance of some changes that we will make to the guidance so that they can review their policies in these areas now. Meter fitting We have considered the processes that water companies employ when allowing SLOs to fit meters. In our August 2001 consultation 'Competition in the provision of new water mains and service pipes' we sought views on the principle that water companies allow SLOs to fit water meters on new connections. On the basis of the consultation we concluded that companies could retain responsibility for meter fitting. However, we committed to review this, after discussing with the companies the safeguards and administrative processes that are needed to make this work contestable. In April 2003 we wrote to eight water companies that allow SLOs to fit meters to gather information about their policies and processes. Annex A summarises the practices and processes that these companies use to allow SLOs to fit meters effectively. These practices demonstrate that it is practical to allow SLOs to fit meters. If you feel it would not be appropriate for your company to adopt the processes outlined on annex A, please explain why by August 18 2004. In responding you should consider how your arrangements with your own contractors might be applied to SLOs. Levels of service We wrote to water companies in December 2003 asking for their views on the levels of service including the process and timescales that were proposed by our self-lay group (SLG). This work arose from our self-lay guidance where we stated that all water companies should have reasonable service levels and timescales for each element of the self-lay process. We have reviewed the responses that we received to the December 2003 letter and revised the timescales accordingly. United Kingdom Water Industry Research (UKWIR) referred to this work when writing their forthcoming 'Code of practice for the self-laying of water mains and services'. UKWIR's document will include a level of service process but no timescales. Annex B lists the revised timescales that we expect water companies to follow when devising their levels of service. These timescales correspond with the stages of the process set out in UKWIR's Code of practice. Annex C is a summary of the responses to the letter that we sent in December 2003. Conclusion We will contact water companies and other stakeholders later this year about revising the self-lay guidance. In the meantime, we look forward to working with the industry over the coming months to implement the new regime. Yours sincerely Beryl Brown Competition Policy Team  |
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