Water Act 2003

37 Conditions relating to costs of water regulation

(1) In this section “payment conditions” means conditions included in an appointment under Chapter 1 of Part 2 of the WIA by virtue of section 11(1)(c) of that Act.

(2) The payment conditions of such an appointment may (without prejudice to the generality of section 11(1)(c)) require the payment by the company holding the appointment of sums relating to any of the expenses mentioned in subsection (3).

(3) Those expenses are—

(a) the expenses of the Council, and

(b) the expenses of the Authority, the Secretary of State or the Assembly in relation to the establishment of the Council.

(4) The Authority may, in accordance with this section, modify any payment conditions where it considers it necessary or expedient to do so in consequence of, or of preparations for—

(a) the establishment of the Council, or

(b) the abolition of the customer service committees established under section 28(1) of the WIA.

(5) Where the Authority modifies under subsection (4) any payment conditions of an appointment it may make such incidental or consequential modifications as it considers necessary or expedient of the other conditions included in the appointment.

(6) Before modifying under subsection (4) or (5) the conditions included in such an appointment, the Authority shall consult the company holding the appointment.

(7) The powers of the Authority under subsections (4) and (5) may not be exercised after the end of the period of two years beginning with the commencement of this section.

(8) The Secretary of State may, after consulting the Assembly, give directions to the Authority for the purpose of securing that sums relating to any of the expenses mentioned in subsection (3) are included in the sums payable by virtue of payment conditions; and the Authority shall comply with any such direction.

(9) If this section comes into force before the coming fully into force of section 36(1), references in this section to the Authority are to be read as including references to the Director General of Water Services.