Ofwat publishes revised Code for Adoption Agreements



Last month, the Water Services Regulation Authority (“Ofwat”), published a revised version of the Code for Adoption Agreements (the “Code”).
Adoption agreements are those that developers enter into when they want an appointed water/sewerage company to take over responsibility for the infrastructure they have constructed.
The Code is required to be issued by the Water Industry Act 1991 (as amended by the Water Act 2014) and requires companies to develop, agree and maintain:
·         sector guidance; and
·         model adoption agreements;
reflecting overarching principles set out in the Code.
The Code required companies to submit to Ofwat for its approval, water sector guidance and     a model water adoption agreement by 1 October 2018.
At the industry’s request, Ofwat has now amended the Code to change this deadline from 1 October 2018 to 7 January 2019 allowing water companies additional time to engage and consult with customers on the documents.
Ofwat expects to review and approve these documents by 1 April 2019, with plans for them to come into effect from July 2019.
The deadline for water companies to submit similar documents in relation to sewerage (1 April 2019) has not been extended. Ofwat expects to approve the sewerage sector guidance document and model sewerage adoption agreement by 31 July 2019 with plans for them to come into effect from October 2019.
Watch this space for further developments.


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