CommercialDW Update – Conveyancers’ Briefing Note

From April 2017, all non-household customers in England will be able to choose their supplier of water and sewerage retail services. This is a result of a change in the law under the Water Act 2014, designed to introduce competition into the water industry. As a result, CommercialDW providers have had to make a small number of changes to the CommercialDW Enquiry.

Whilst existing water companies will still own and maintain water and sewerage networks, services including billing, handling customer queries and complaints, and meter reading will be provided by a number of different companies (see www.open-water.org.uk/).

This change will have an impact on the Commercial Drainage and Water Enquiry (CommercialDW). This briefing note explains the changes and what commercial property conveyancers need to be aware of.