‘Dismay’ over water connection code

Changes to water adoption proposals have been criticised as unsatisfactory and lacking clarity by self-lay providers (SLPs).

Proposed changes are due to be submitted to Ofwat next week following two years of development, but critics argue it remains too vague and, in some places, incomplete.

Fair Water Connections, an association which provides support to SLPs, said the proposals fail Ofwat Code requirements that call for clarity and to provide guarantees for contractors.

“We are dismayed by this situation and the further, now inevitable, delays whilst Ofwat (hopefully) realise, and resolve, the many shortcomings in what companies are proposing,” said Martyn Speight head of Fair Water Connections on behalf of the SLP community.

Speight told Utility Week: “It’s an incomplete piece of work. We want local variations minimised, which the Ofwat Code called for; and we want to give SLPs much more confidence that vital pieces of work will be delivered in a timely way”.

Previous codes of practice were not mandatory so Ofwat proposed the code to give SLPs clear guidance on what they need to do to be able to do their work. Currently companies provide information for contractors on their websites, which Speight said was sometimes “patchy or unclear”.

“One of the crucial guarantees is that if self-lay providers lay a pipe on a site that they can guarantee, because they know the water companies had agreed with them, that it would be connected,” Speight explained. “But if a water company fails to do so there are no sanctions or consequences on the water company for not connecting the site.”

SLPs provide an increasing number of pipe connections on housing and development sites in a market that is becoming more competitive.

Speight said that while some companies are embracing the competition, others are just complying with it. “They are not blocking competition, but their behaviour is not about openness to the market,” he said.

He added companies are becoming more responsive to open competition, but it is less well established in the south and south east.

The group believed a more satisfactory outcome could be achieved through collaborative working.

Water UK has coordinated the industry position and presented it to Ofwat. The trade body said: “All of these proposals have been discussed extensively with stakeholders, both in meetings and in a public consultation.  Over 400 comments have been received and we have made changes to reflect a substantial number of these.”

Water UK will submit its proposals to the regulator next week for review before implementation next year.