The Environment Agency has launched a new consultation setting out its charging proposals for its Environmental Permitting, Abstraction and EU Emissions Trading Schemes in 2015 – and the majority of water abstraction charges will remain unchanged.
Launching the consultation, the Environment Agency said it continued to be aware of the potential impact the charges have on the organisations it regulate and business as a whole, commenting:
“We not changed the level of our charges for many of our regimes in recent years. We were able to achieve this through a rigorous and sustained efficiency programme. Substantial savings were made by reducing our support service costs while preserving our front line services. Over this period we maintained high standards of service and delivered improvements such as issuing most permits within 13 weeks. “
In 2014 the Agency introduced a suite of changes in 2014 including baseline charge increases, in line with inflation, for Environmental Permitting Regulation (EPR) Installations and Waste facilities. The increase was necessary to counter deficit balances on these regimes in accordance with the Agency’s agreement with H M Treasury.
The Agency said it had reviewed current and future cost pressures and projected expenditure and is again proposing no increase in charges for many of its schemes for 2015/16.
On Water Abstraction charging, described as a regionally based set of charges reflecting local conditions and cost pressures, the Agency said that for many of its customers it is proposing no increase to its main rate of charge.
However , the Agency said some specific local cost pressures are in the main outside its control and for which it needs to increase charges. The Agency is proposing to increase the Standard Unit Charge to the Northumbrian regional charging area to reflect the Operating Agreement it has with Northumbrian Water for Kielder Reservoir. Under the arrangement, inflationary cost increases (notably energy costs) are charged to the Environment Agency for Northumbrian Water's water resource management activity.
The proposed change would result in an annual increase of 8% for the Northumbrian regional charging area for each of the three years 2015/16, 2016/17, and 2017/18.
The Agency is also proposing changes for the Environmental Improvement Unit Charge (EIUC). The EIUC for water undertakers ceased following the commencement of the Water Act 2014.
However, the Agency said it needs to continue to generate the necessary funding for compensating non water company licence holders affected under the Restoring Sustainable Abstraction programme. The non water undertaker EIUC will continue to be collected to generate these funds.
For 2015/16 the Agency has proposed the following:
- To increase the combined SUC+ EIUC charge by 10% for North West and Southern
- To maintain the current level of EIUC charge for Anglian, Thames and South West
- To continue to raise no EIUC charges for Yorkshire, Northumbrian and Midlands
Click here to access the consultation documents online.
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