New Appointments and Variations (NAV)

New Appointments and Variations (NAVs) providing water and/or sewerage service to customers

What is a NAV?

Under the Water Industry Act 1991, water companies operating the public water and/or wastewater networks hold an “Instrument of appointment”, allowing them to provide water and/or sewerage services to customers in a defined geographical area.

A NAV (New Appointment and Variations) involves one company replacing another as the appointee for an area. 

NAV companies are therefore limited companies which provide a water and/or sewerage service to customers in an area which was previously provided by the incumbent monopoly provider.

There are three circumstances in which a NAV can be granted:

  • Where the premises of one or more customers is supplied (or is likely to be supplied) with at least 50 megalitres of water per year. The same criterion applies for water recycling services.
  • Where no premises within the area are served by an appointed company i.e. the site is ‘unserved’. This includes areas which are supplied by private, unregulated supplies. This criterion must be met for both water and water recycling services.
  • If the existing appointed company consents to the transfer of that area.
A new appointment is made when a limited company is appointed by Ofwat for the first time to provide water and/or sewerage services for a specific geographical area. A variation is where an existing appointed company asks Ofwat to vary its appointment so it can extend the area it provides services to. A new appointee has the same duties and responsibilities as the previous statutory water company.
 

For further information, see how Ofwat govern the NAV application process.

Services to NAVs

If you are a NAV company seeking to become the appointee for a site that’s currently in our area, you will need some information from us as the incumbent water and/or wastewater company to support your application to Ofwat.

This may include confirmation of whether we serve properties within the site, setting up a bulk agreement and providing bulk connections for water and/or wastewater to the boundary of your site. 

NAV connection charging

Details of charges applicable to NAVs for enquiries and applications for bulk water and wastewater connections can be found in our NAVs charging scheme. 

Application fees and charges for NAVs are the same as those for other customers such as developers and self lay providers, seeking equivalent services.    

NAVs Library

Details of the tariffs applicable to NAVs for bulk supplies and bulk discharges can be found in our Wholesale Scheme of charges and in the NAV Charge document and Cost Model below.

*Frontier Economics review of Severn Trent NAV charges.