§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will obtain information from the Yorkshire water authority as to why the local people in the Normanton meter trial area were not given the opportunity to consider the draft code of practice for water leakage before it was submitted to the director general as promised in the letter of 29 August from his Department to the hon. Member for Normanton; and if lie will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardThe draft code will apply to all Yorkshire Water's domestic customers who are metered, not just those customers in the trial area. We did, however, ask Yorkshire Water to give the local liaison committee on the south Normanton trial an opportunity to comment on the draft code before it was submitted for approval to the director general. I understand that Yorkshire Water subsequently passed the committee's comments, including those from the hon. Member, to the director general with the draft code.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what information is available to Parliament from the national compulsory water meter trials; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. HowardA copy of the first interim report on the trials, which was published last February, was placed in the Library. A second interim report is expected to be published in the spring.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the estimated cost to public funds for the compulsory water meter trials in the Normanton constituency; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardThe Government have agreed to contribute up to half the cost of the south Normanton trial. The budget for the trial has yet to be finalised, but we expect the Government's contribution to be in the region of £240,000.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what mechanism is to be applied to monitor the total income, including the contribution from his Department to the compulsory water meter trials in the Normanton constituency, by the Yorkshire water authority during the trial period; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardThe trial tariff has been designed to recover the same amount of income from the trail area as would have been recovered on a rateable value basis. We shall be regularly monitoring the level of income received from customers when charging starts in April 1991. The tariff will be amended if the income recovered from customers is greater than anticipated.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what value will be obtained from the investment of public money on the compulsory water meter trials in the Normanton constituency; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardThe south Normanton trial is part of a programme of 12 trials in different areas designed to examine all aspects of metering, including the views of customers. The lessons learnt during the trials will help ensure that those water companies that decide to adopt metering as an alternative means of charging once the use of rateable values is no longer permitted, will do so cost effectively and with the least inconvenience to customers.
§ Mr. O'BrienTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the number of water meters being installed in the Isle of Wight trial scheme which, when examined by the trading standards officer for verification, have fallen outside the tolerance area; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HowardI understand that one meter has been tested by the local trading standards officer on the Isle of Wight at the request of a customer. The meter was found to be just outside the error limits prescribed in the Measuring Equipment (Cold-water Meters) Regulations 1988 and was subsequently replaced.