Ofwat has appointed a new water and sewerage company – the first new company to offer both services since privatisation – by granting its twelfth inset appointment.

Inset appointments allow for one supplier to be replaced by another for a specific geographical area. There are three qualifying criteria for seeking an inset appointment.

• For an area in which each of the premises of one or more customers is supplied (or is likely to be supplied) with not less than 50 megalitres of water in England (250 megalitres of water in Wales) in any period of 12 months. This also applies to inset appointments for sewerage services.
• For an area which is not served by an existing appointed company – an 'unserved site'. This includes an area that may be currently supplied by unregulated or 'private' supplies with its own source of water. This criterion has to be met for both water and sewerage services included in the inset appointment application.
• For an area if the existing appointed company consents to transfer that area to the inset appointee.

SSE Water (SSEW) will provide water and sewerage services to a housing development near Salisbury, called The Portway. SSEW will serve its customers by buying water from Wessex Water, and discharging sewage to Wessex Water's network.

From the outset, Ofwat will ensure that SSEW's customers will pay no more than they would have had they been supplied by Wessex Water. Ofwat also expects these customers to receive a quality of service at least as good as if Wessex Water had served the site. SSEW is part of Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE), which has a proven record for its high levels of customer service. Ofwat expects SSEW to set a benchmark in the water industry for similar high levels of customer service.