Charity water charge exemption to continue

Principles for charging will give relief to smaller bodies in voluntary sector

News, 30 May 2008

Small charities, churches and voluntary organisations will continue to be exempt from paying water charges, the Scottish Government confirmed today.

The exemption scheme applies to certain small organisations (largely charitable and voluntary) that received reliefs on a discretionary basis from the former water authorities. Introduced in 2002 for a four year period to help these organisations to prepare to pay for their water services, the scheme was previously extended from 2006-10.

Infrastructure Minister Stewart Stevenson confirmed the further extension when announcing the government's principles of charging for 2010-2014, which will guide the Water Industry Commission for Scotland's future determination of water service charge levels.

The principles are one of the key ministerial inputs to the wider water charging strategic review, commissioned by ministers and undertaken by the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.

Mr Stevenson said that Scottish Water was making significant improvements to water services while delivering efficiency savings to all its customers.

"I believe that the current framework of stable and affordable charges is fundamental to a successful water industry. It is a priority for the industry to continue to deliver affordable prices while improving levels of service.

"A strong case for retaining the exemption scheme was made by voluntary sector organisations and church groups during our recent consultation and we have listened to those views. Consequently, those small charities, churches and voluntary organisations that meet the exemption scheme criteria will continue to be exempt from paying for their water services charges until 2014."

The principles, issued in draft form, will be finalised in September 2009 following the publication of the Commission's draft charges determination for the regulatory period. They restate existing principles including full cost recovery and geographical harmonisation of charges; and propose further movement towards more obviously cost-reflective charges - customers paying a fair charge for the demand that they place on the public system - in a manner that is least disruptive to customers.

The introduction on 1 April 2008 of competition in the provision of services such as billing, reading meters and handling complaints in the non-household sector means that the charging principles will only apply to the wholesale charges set by Scottish Water for non-household customers. The charging principles will continue to apply to all charges for household customers.