Under paragraph 3(2) of Schedule 6 to the Local Government Finance Act 1988, the Secretary of State may by order provide in the case of non-domestic hereditaments to be shown in central rating lists that the normal rules of valuation for rating contained in paragraphs 2 to 2C of that Schedule are not to apply to such hereditaments (that is to say, by reference to the rent a hypothetical tenant would pay for the hereditament on an annual basis) and instead their rateable values shall be such as are specified in the order or determined in accordance with prescribed rules.

Water supply hereditaments in England occupied (or, if unoccupied, owned) by water undertakers named in part 6 of the Schedule to the Central Rating Lists (England) Regulations 2000 are required by those Regulations to be shown in the central rating list for England. This Order disapplies paragraphs 2 to 2C in respect of such hereditaments, prescribes values for those hereditaments for the financial year 2000/2001 and prescribes rules according to which their rateable values are to be determined for the period for which the central rating list compiled on 1st April 2000 has effect.

Article 8(1) revokes, with effect for England only and from 1st April 2000, the Water Undertakers (Rateable Values) Order 1994 and article 3 of the Electricity Supply Industry and Water Undertakers (Rateable Values) Amendment Order 1996. These provisions, and the savings provisions they contain in respect of rating lists in force before 1st April 1995, continue to have effect for the purposes mentioned in article 8(2).