Infrastructure Minister Chris Hazzard met the Utility Regulator today to discuss the key role the Authority plays in regulating the water sector.
The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has policy responsibility for water and sewerage services and is the sponsoring department for NI Water, meaning that it sets NI Water’s annual budget and approves its operating plan.
The Utility Regulator regulates the amount of revenue NI Water needs, and therefore how much it can charge non domestic customers to achieve targets and maintain and improve the service it delivers.
Minister Hazzard said: “I welcome the Utility Regulator’s continued work with NI Water. The provision of high quality water and sewerage services is a vital component of our infrastructure and the Regulator plays a key role in this.
“Every day NI Water delivers 560 million litres of high quality drinking water to almost 1.8 million people and safely disposes of 330 million litres of wastewater a day. This is critical for public health and is part of the essential infrastructure required to support economic growth, protect our environment and provide good services for this generation and the next.
“NI Water is to be congratulated on having exceptionally high levels of drinking water quality and wastewater compliance in the North. This has been achieved against a background of improved performance, efficiency, customer service and cost control.
“I have asked the Regulator to continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure that the water sector delivers the best possible outputs for the benefit of all.”
