New Appointment and Variation (NAVs) are companies that have successfully applied to become a new service provider within an existing water company’s region.
This means they can provide wholesale water and/or sewerage services for a specific area, typically for a new or large development.
You can ask a NAV to serve your development in a defined area known as an inset. If you choose a NAV to supply your water and/or wastewater services, they will own and maintain the network of your development.
To find out more about using a NAV, visit Ofwat’s website.
If you’re an inset company (an organisation with a licence variation to supply water within our network), we’ll work with you and do everything we can to make your development a success.
You can estimate your costs by referring to our current charging arrangements. You should apply for a quote if you have planning permission and/or you intend to pay the quote within the next 180 calendar days (otherwise it will expire).
When you apply for a new water main, you’ll need to pay an upfront application fee, which covers the costs of processing your application and payment. We’ll also charge you an upfront design fee or, if you’re doing the design yourself, a checking fee.
If you need another quote for the work, there’s an upfront requote fee. All these fees are non-refundable if the work doesn’t go ahead.
Our charges are updated on 1 April each year. Find out which charges are applicable for your application on our charging arrangements page.
We can’t guarantee that any applications submitted after those dates will be issued under that year’s charging arrangements.
If you’ve not begun work, you can request a requote under the following year’s charges after 31 March. Please note that a requote fee will be applicable.
For larger developments, we have to check that our network has the capacity to supply your development. You can ask us to make a pre-planning enquiry to check this. We advise you to do this as early as possible — before applying for planning permission for instance — to minimise the risk of any delays.
If you’re delivering your construction in phases, you still need to pass your water regulations inspection for new water connections and/or commenced the phase of mains laying construction within the validity period stated in your quote. Find out more in our charging arrangements.
Please complete the below application form. We’ll carry out a technical review and send you a quote for the new water main within 28 calendar days (42 calendar days for more technically challenging sites or those with more than 500 plots).
We’ll also explain your option to use a self-lay provider and ask you to let us know whether you’d like to use a self-lay provider or want us to do the work. Scaled drawings showing the layout of the new mains and service connections will be attached to the quote.
Your quote for the new service connections is sent separately at a later date when you let us know you are ready for it. This prevents it from expiring while the new water main is being constructed.
We’ll need you to provide the following information:
Your AutoCAD drawing should show:
Once you’re ready to apply for a point of connection, you’ll need to fill in an application form and return it to us for review.
After your new water main has been commissioned, you'll need to request the service connections. Please apply through the service connections on an existing water main.
Sign and return your quote by email and make a payment.
We’ll contact you to arrange a commencement meeting when you’ve accepted the quote. At this meeting, we’ll confirm the scope of works, lead times, on site facilities and any traffic management requirements.
We'll then talk to the local authority and other bodies responsible for roads and traffic e.g. Transport for London and bus companies.
In line with your phasing requirements, we'll plan to construct the water main within 90 days from acceptance of the quote.
Learn about the clean and wastewater environmental discounts in our charging arrangements.