The water companies have introduced a new set of standards for the provision of water and sewerage infrastructure for new homes and other construction projects.
The standards cover the performance of water companies in dealing with a broad range of activities which are essential for housing development. They include responding to initial enquiries, providing designs and quotations, construction and connection, and dealing with legal agreements.
The move follows widespread consultation with developers, self-lay companies and their representative organisations.
Work on the standards has been coordinated through Water UK, the body which represents all the UK water companies at national and EU level. All of the water companies have voluntarily agreed and are now monitoring their performance against these measures. The performance of its members will be updated quarterly and published on the Water UK website from July 2015.
Pamela Taylor, Chief Executive of Water UK, said:
"Water companies are playing their part in helping to speed up the building of new homes that the country needs so urgently. These standards, which are part of a broader programme of work we are undertaking in this area, demonstrate that water companies are committed to providing transparency to their developer customers about their performance and to driving improvements in service levels."
The new standards form part of the government initiative to publish levels of service for all utility providers - originally published in draft format as part of the government guide Better Connected: A practical guide to utilities for home builders.
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Commenting on the water companies’ commitment on levels of service, Richard Khaldi, Senior Director Customers and Casework, said:
“Companies must play their part in encouraging growth. We welcome them stepping up to take greater ownership of their relationship with their developer services customers. Good conversations with customers have been crucial to agreeing these measures. These are vital first steps in building greater trust and confidence that these services can be delivered effectively and fairly."
“The commitment that companies will regularly report their performance will not only improve transparency, but encourage those companies lagging behind to catch up. It will also help us identify where and how we focus our efforts to drive further benefits for customers.”
Click here to download the new standards
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