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The Housing and Finance Institute (HFI) has called for Ofgem and Ofwat to be merged, creating a single utility provider to drive higher developer standards across all regulated water and electricity utilities.
In a report, the group condemned some water companies for failing to respond to the needs of housebuilders in making timely and effective sewerage and water connections.
It said energy regulator Ofgem has been active in continuing to address and drive electricity connections performance and “it recognises that firmer action is now required”.
The HFI suggested there is a case for providing the same legal framework for water as already exists for electricity.
“Given that there are so few utilities providers for water and electricity, there is a strong case for a single utility regulator to drive more collaborative and planned local utilities provision and higher standards across all regulated entities,” it said.
HFI said every water company in England failed its sewerage targets for housebuilding as an average over the 2015 published period.
It suggested that, where council leaders are finding that particular utilities are holding back housing delivery, they should be apply to the communities secretary to serve a direction order.
“Financial penalties, attaching conditions to licences to operate and, ultimately, withdrawing licences are the structural responses which are already available for regulated utilities which, practically, cannot be subject to the usual anti-monopoly responses of introducing market competition,” the group said.
“Given the importance of housing to national growth, where utilities providers fail to plan and support required national infrastructure these available regulatory responses ought to be considered.”
Last month, members’ group Fair Water Connections urged water firms to overhaul how they measure standards for developer services to reflect what is important to self-lay organisations and the developers they seek to supply.
It claimed there is disconnect between the experience of its members and what is being reported by Water UK on behalf of water firms.
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