The publication yesterday of Ofwat's appeals process for the transfer of private sewers means the regulator is working to a very tight timetable – which in some circumstances could be to the detriment of vulnerable customers.

The problem appears to lie with the way in which the Government has introduced the legislation.

The Regulations themselves were only approved by Parliament on 4th July, leaving the water industry regulator with a limited window of opportunity to consult on the form of guidance it proposed to use with regard to the appeals process. The Ofwat consultation period was in fact still running when the sewerage companies began issuing notification notices to customers about the transfer from 1^st July onwards – the consultation only ended on 13^th July.

The sewerage companies were required to serve notice of the proposal to transfer the sewers or lateral drains on the owners of those sewers or drains and publish notice of their proposal, at least two months before the 1 October 2011 transfer date i.e. by 1 August 2011 at the latest.

Although the companies have sent letters to customers affected by the transfer to tell them whether or not they would have their private sewers adopted, and published details in their local press, many customers will simply not be aware of yesterday’s publication of the Ofwat guidance and the options open to them. For customers who received notification at the start of July that their sewers would be adopted, this effectively leaves them with less than four weeks to take action.

Customers who want to appeal against a company not adopting a sewer have slightly more leeway, with a three month period in which to take action.

However, even in the event of customers appealing within the specified timeframe, Ofwat’s final decision will be absolute with no route for further appeals. The process does not appear to have addressed the needs of more vulnerable customers.  For example, an elderly customer with no access to the internet, external advice and without a good understanding of the implications, particularly the financial aspects, if the sewerage company decides against a transfer, will not be in a good position.

To some extent the Government itself appears to have been limited by the original timeline for the appeals process, when appealing against the adoption of a private sewer, which was set out by the previous Government in the Water Act 2003.

In this instance Ofwat appears to have been hamstrung by decisions taken by Defra with regard to the timescales for appeals and reasons why they were set as they were. No discretion has been given to Ofwat about accepting appeals outside the timescales.

However, the regulator has tried hard to mitigate the speed of the process and the impact this could have on customers.

An Ofwat spokesman commented:

“We recognised that there were tight deadlines and have conducted the consultation and published the final guidance in the quickest possible time so as to reduce any confusion for customers.”

Hopefully the upcoming Water White Paper in December, which looks set to introduce far-reaching changes for the water sector, will not adopt a similarly rushed approach.