§ Mr. MitchellTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions who determines the areas in respect of which bids can be made by water supply companies based outside the area served by an existing company; and, in the event of a successful bid, which company retains(a) ownership of water pipes and (b) responsibility for their maintenance. [108741]
§ Mr. MullinA company can be appointed as a water undertaker or sewerage undertaker by the Director General of Water Services under the Water Industry Act 1991. There is no restriction on the areas in respect of which appointments may be sought within England and Wales. A water company may seek to become the supplier for any area within that of another company by means of an 'inset' appointment: where that company consents to the appointment; where the appointment is in respect of parts of that area where none of the premises is served by that company; or where it is in respect of an area occupied by premises, each of which is supplied with, or likely to be supplied with, not less than 250 megalitres of water in any year. Ownership of water pipes and responsibility for their maintenance rests with the company holding the appointment for the area in question.
The Competition Act 1998 comes into effect on 1 March, providing potential opportunities for greater competition. The Office of Fair Trading and Office of Water Services have issued guidance on the application of the 1998 Act to the water and sewerage sectors. If shared use of a water undertaker's network is agreed, ownership and responsibility for maintenance would remain with the undertaker, but with arrangements for sharing the costs between the two companies