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Statutory Instruments

1996 No. 3065

WATER INDUSTRY, ENGLAND AND WALES

The Water Supply and Sewerage Services (Customer Service Standards) (Amendment) Regulations 1996

Made

3rd December 1996

Laid before Parliament

9th December 1996

Coming into force

1st January 1997

Whereas the Director General of Water Services, acting pursuant to section 39(1A) of the Water Industry Act 1991(1), has arranged for such research as he considered appropriate with a view to discovering the views of a representative sample of persons likely to be affected by these Regulations and has considered the results;

Whereas the Director has made to the Secretary of State for the Environment and the Secretary of State for Wales a written application complying with section 39(2) of that Act;

Whereas the Secretaries of State are satisfied that a copy of the application has been served by the Director on every water undertaker specified in the application and on persons or bodies appearing to the Secretaries of State to be representative of persons likely to be affected by these Regulations;

Whereas such period as the Secretaries of State consider appropriate has been allowed for the making, by the Director, any affected water undertaker or person or body on whom a copy of the application has been served, of representations or objections with respect to the Director's proposals;

Whereas the Secretaries of State have considered a written summary of the results of the research carried out in accordance with section 39(1A) of that Act, the Director's reasons for his proposals and every representation or objection which has been duly made with respect to those proposals and has not been withdrawn;

And whereas the only provisions of these Regulations are the provisions proposed by the Director in his application together with such modifications as appear to the Secretaries of State to be appropriate;

Now therefore the Secretary of State for Wales, in relation to water undertakers appointed by him or with his consent or in accordance with a general authorisation given by him, and the Secretary of State for the Environment, in relation to other water undertakers, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by section 38(2) to (4) of the Water Industry Act 1991(2), hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Water Supply and Sewerage Services (Customer Service Standards) (Amendment) Regulations 1996 and shall come into force on 1st January 1997.

Amendment of the Water Supply and Sewerage Services (Customer Service Standards) Regulations 1989

2.-(1) The Water Supply and Sewerage Services (Customer Service Standards) Regulations 1989(3) shall be amended as follows.

(2) After regulation 7 there shall be inserted the following regulation-

"Pressure standard

7AA.-(1) The water undertaker shall maintain a minimum pressure of water in a communication pipe serving premises supplied with water of seven metres static head.

(2) Where in any period of 28 days the pressure in a communication pipe falls below seven metres static head on two occasions each lasting not less than one hour, the undertaker shall, except in the circumstances described in paragraph (3), pay to the customer (or credit to his account) the sum of £25.

(3) The circumstances described in this paragraph are-

(a)that a payment under this regulation has already been made to the customer in respect of the same financial year;

(b)that the customer has not made a written claim for a payment under this regulation within three months from the date of the later of the two occasions on which the pressure fell below seven metres static head; or

(c)that industrial action by the employees of the undertaker or the act or default of a person other than an officer, employee or agent of the undertaker or a person acting on behalf of its agent made it impracticable to maintain the minimum pressure referred to in paragraph (1).

(4) This regulation does not apply where the pressure falls below the minimum pressure referred to in paragraph (1) in connection with the carrying out of necessary works or because of drought.

(5) In this regulation, "communication pipe" means-

(a)where the premises supplied with water abut on the part of the street in which the undertaker's water main is laid, and the service pipe-

(i)enters those premises otherwise than through the outer wall of a building abutting on the street; and

(ii)has a stopcock placed in those premises and as near to the boundary of that street as is reasonably practical,

so much of the service pipe as lies between the water main and that stopcock;

(b)in any other case, so much of the service pipe as lies between the water main and the boundary of the street in which the water main is laid."

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment

Robert Jones

Minister of State,

Department of the Environment

2nd December 1996

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Wales

Jonathan Evans

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Welsh Office

3rd December 1996

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Water Supply and Sewerage Services (Customer Service Standards) Regulations 1989 in relation to water undertakers. They require the undertaker to maintain a minimum pressure of seven metres static head in communication pipes. If the pressure falls below that minimum for an hour or more on two occasions in any period of 28 days, the customer is entitled to a payment or credit of £25.

(1)

1991 c. 56; sections 38 and 39 were amended by the Competition and Service Utilities Act 1992 (c. 43), section 26 and Schedule 1, paragraphs 18 and 19.

(2)

1991 c. 56.

(3)

S.I. 1989/1159, amended by 1989/1383 and 1993/500. By virtue of paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to the Water Consolidation (Consequential Provisions) Act 1991 (c. 60), those Regulations have effect as if made under sections 38 and 95 of the Water Industry Act 1991.