Ofwat has published detailed practical assistance guidelines for the water and wastewater companies on dealing with customers affected by sewer flooding.
The guidance recommends that customers should be able to contact their sewerage company easily when a sewer flooding incident occurs. Ofwat has suggested that the provision of a dedicated telephone line is good practice and that all staff dealing with calls reporting sewer flooding should be aware of sewer flooding issues to be able to deal with the customer’s call effectively. Customers should also be able to expect their sewerage company to visit their property promptly when a sewer flooding incident occurs. The guidance recommends that companies should provide their customers with any necessary information on how to deal with their property and the associated health risks during and after clean up.
The guidance also contains a number of detailed financial guidelines including the annual requirement to inform customers of compensation entitlements under GSS Regulations, the need for companies to provide customers with a GSS payment within 20 working days from the date of an internal sewer flooding incident and within 20 working days from the date a customer claims a payment for external sewer flooding.
Ofwat has also recommended that companies should have a policy in place for dealing with customers who are uninsured as a result of previous sewer flooding. Ofwat expects this to be a very small number of customers who either cannot afford insurance because of previous sewer flooding incidents which have made premiums or excesses too expensive or have been refused insurance as a direct result of their sewer flooding risk.The regulator has suggested that companies should try to help this group of customers and make sure that they are not left out of pocket as a result of a sewer flooding incident. Ofwat have also recommended that companies should communicate with customers regarding investigations into the cause of sewer flooding and solutions such as capital schemes and/or mitigation measures if appropriate for their property.
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