Ofwat has given water companies an extra three months to submit proposals under the Code for Adoption Agreements.
The Code deals with the adoption of water infrastructure and sewerage infrastructure for English companies. It requires companies to develop sector guidance setting out the processes by which parties can enter into adoption agreements, and model adoption agreements.
In an information note (IN18/16), the regulator moved the deadline by which companies are required to submit water proposals to Ofwat for approval from 1 October 2018 to 7 January 2019, following a request from the sector. It said: “The additional time added is to allow for companies to undertake further engagement and consultation with customers on the documents, in order to ensure that, as much as possible, the documents reflect a broad consensus of opinion between customers and companies.”
The deadline for sewerage guidance and model adoption agreement submission remains unchanged at 1 April 2019. The aim is for the water documents to come into effect from July 2019 and the sewerage documents from October 2019.