A hearing is underway in the High Court to determine whether the nine large English water companies have been charging appropriately for information on water and drainage for house movers and land buyers.
A group of personal search companies (PSCs), which supply information to end customers involved in the sale/purchase of land, believe they are being overcharged. PSCs primarily rely on open-source information to prepare their reports. However, with drainage and water information held exclusively by water companies, PSCs buy ‘official’ reports to ascertain water data.
They argue that the information in these reports falls under the category of ‘environmental information’ which public authorities are obliged to provide free of charge or for no more than a reasonable charge under Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004.
The PSCs argue that water companies – which they say could have made the relevant information easily available through measures such as an open register – have proactively withheld this information and instead sought to maximise profit through over-charging, and that these charges amount to unjust enrichment.
The water companies’ case rests on arguments including that the information in question is not ‘environmental information’ but personal data, and that extracting it requires skill and judgement.
Stage 1 of the trial is underway and is expected to run until some time in December. This will establish whether the information in question is ‘environmental information’ and whether any of the disclosure exceptions in the EIR apply.
A judgement is expected next year. Any financial liability or compensation due would need to be established in a second stage of the case.
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