This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Draft Water Services Bill
13/10/2003
Proposals for amending the regulatory framework for water and sewerage services in Scotland were published today for consultation.
Its main provisions are aimed at:
- Protecting public health and the environment by prohibiting common carriage on the public networks
- Safeguarding the Executive's social objectives by prohibiting anyone other than Scottish Water from serving household customers
- Establishing a licensing regime to regulate the provision of retail services to non-household customers
Ross Finnie, Minister for Environment and Rural Development, said:
"Scottish Water has a key role to play in contributing to the Executive's public health, environment protection and social policy objectives.
"This draft Bill makes clear our determination to safeguard these objectives in a more competitive commercial environment. It confirms, in the interests of public health and of protecting the environment, that only Scottish Water can add drinking water to the public mains and draw wastewater from the public sewers.
"It confirms too that only Scottish Water can supply households with retail services. This will ensure that domestic water charges can continue to reflect in broad terms customers' ability to pay by retaining the link between domestic charges and the banding and discount arrangements of the Council Tax system.
"The proposed licensing regime will introduce choice in the provision of retail services to business customers, while ensuring that these customers continue to pay a fair share of the costs of the public networks.
"The regulatory framework outlined in the draft Bill will safeguard the Executive's objectives for the water industry as competition in the industry develops.
"By publishing this draft Bill for consultation, I would encourage all interested parties and the general public to take the opportunity to comment on these proposals for protecting Scotland's public water services."
The Executive announced in February its plans to protect public water and sewerage services in a more competitive environment.
The Competition Act 1998 opens up the prospect of competition on the public water and sewerage networks that Scottish Water owns and operates.
This could take two forms:
- Common carriage - where a third party provides water and sewerage services to customers on the public networks by adding drinking water to Scottish Water's mains, or drawing wastewater from Scottish Water's sewers
- Retail - where responsibility for delivering water and sewerage rests with Scottish Water, but where services such as meter reading, customer billing and handling customer complaints are provided by third parties
The draft Bill addresses both possibilities through its prohibitions on common carriage and household competition and its licensing regime.
The deadline for comments on the draft Bill is Friday January 9, 2004.
Subject to the outcome of the consultation it is planned to introduce the Water Services (Scotland) Bill during 2004.
Copies of the draft Bill can be obtained from:
Scottish Executive
Environment and Rural Affairs Department
Water Services Unit
Area 1-H
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ
Tel. 0131-244-0275