Water and Sewerage
The Utility Regulator’s Water Directorate came into being on the 1 April 2007 under statutory duties set out in the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006. On this date, the provision of these services transferred from the Water Service, an agency of the Department of Regional Development (DRD) to a government owned company Northern Ireland Water Ltd (NI Water).
The aim of the Water Directorate is to regulate the water and sewerage industry in Northern Ireland in a way that encourages and incentivises the company (NI Water) to achieve the highest possible service for customers in terms of both quality and value.
The Regulator’s duties with respect to water and sewerage are broadly in line with the role currently discharged by The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat) in England and Wales and by the Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland (WICS), although somewhat wider in one or two instances (e.g. we have wider functions in relation to treatment of land disposals and enforcement). The Price Control process in Northern Ireland is closely aligned to the Price Review processes in GB.
The Water Directorate is comprised of three branches:
- Regulatory Finance
- Comparative Efficiency and Performance
- Network Regulation
Our Work
Annual Information Return
In support of its obligation to monitor the delivery of the undertakings contained in NI Water’s business plan, the Utility Regulator is provided by the company with a comprehensive annual information return which is used to:
• monitor the company’s progress towards achieving higher quality objectives;
• ensure that customers’ standards of service are protected;
• compare company performance to other companies both now and over time;
• measure and compare their costs; and
• prepare for the next review of price limits.
Independent professionals (reporters and auditors) scrutinise the company’s information return and report their opinion to the Regulator. These returns are fundamental to informing the Utility Regulator’s annual cost and performance reports.
2008-09 Annual Information Return
2008-09 Annual Information Return Reporting Requirements
2007-08 Annual Information Return Reporting Requirements
2007-08 Annual Information Return
2007-08 Annual Information Return – Reporter’s Report
Annual Costs and Performance Report
The Utility Regulator is required under Article 5 of the Water and Sewerage Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006 to prepare an Annual Report covering its activities during the preceding year. In addition to this report, which addresses the full range of the Utility Regulator’s duties, the Water Directorate produces a separate report on the costs and performance of N Ireland’s sole water and sewerage undertaker, Northern Ireland Water Limited (NI Water).
This annual costs and performance report is designed to give customers information on the performance of the company, compared with other water companies in the UK. The 2007-08 costs and performance report will provide the Utility Regulator’s view of the company’s performance against its Strategic Business Plan during its first year of operation. This will include an assessment of the company’s delivery of its capital programme and the associated improvements required in water quality and environmental performance.
2007-08 Costs & Performance Report
Price Controls
The Utility Regulator will be required to set price limits for NI Water from 1 April 2010 as part of our duty to protect customers who are served by a monopoly provider of water and wastewater services. We also have a duty to ensure that NI Water is able to finance their functions, including meeting its environmental obligations now and in the future. We will also seek to ensure that customers receive reliable services and value for money from the company.
The first price control (Price Control 2010 – PC10) will covers the three years from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2013. We propose that subsequent price controls will cover five year periods. In undertaking this task, we will forecast the minimum revenue likely to be required by NI Water to run its business in an efficient and sustainable manner. We will also work with other key stakeholders to determine the service standards that we expect NI Water to deliver.
Before making our determinations on a price control, we require NI Water to submit a business plan which sets out the company’s view of its revenue requirements to deliver against agreed standards. These standards are informed by legal requirements (for example, compliance with water and wastewater quality regulations) and guidance on social and environmental matters, issued by the Minister for Regional Development. The content of the company’s plan is informed by our PC10 Reporting Requirements for any particular price control period.
PC10
NI Water provided the Utility Regulator with its Business Plan for PC10 on 15 June 2009.
NI Water’s PC10 Business Plan Public Summary July 2009
We have considered the plan set out by the company and have reached our initial views on the future revenue and price limits necessary to maintain and improve water and sewerage services.
We published our Draft Determination Summary Report on the 18th of September 2009.
In our draft determination main report we provide more detail on how we assessed Ni Water’s Business Plan. We have provided this additional detail to help NI Water, other stakeholders and consumers consider the draft determination and provide us with feedback.
We have published a range of technical information supporting our analysis in seperate annexes which can be accessed through the link below.
PC10 draft determination supporting annexes
The consultation on the draft determination closed on the 6 November 2009. We received 16 responses from a range of stakeholders both individual and organisational. All of these responses can be viewed through the following link.
Draft_Determination_list_of_Respondents.
We have carefully considered the comments received from all stakeholders in the development and formulation of our final determination which we published on 3rd of February 2010. Again our Final_Determination Summary_Report provides an overview of the determination with more detail provided in the Final Determination Main Report and Final_Determination_Annexes.
Water Regulation Letters (WRs)
As part of our commitment to undertake our duties in a transparent manner, we also publish our Water Regulation (WR) letters. These are letters from the Utility Regulator Water Director to NI Water addressing a broad range of issues related to the delivery of effective regulation of water and sewerage services in N Ireland.
WR letters – These can be viewed in our publications section.