New appointment variations

Who NAVs are and how they work?

A New Appointment and Variations (NAVs) are companies that replace another water company as the appointee for an area and provide water and/or wastewater services to customers in a defined area. According to the Water Industry Act 1991, NAVs that operate the public water and/or wastewater networks hold an “Instrument of appointment”.

In order to become a NAV, your limited company will need to go through the process to be appointed by Ofwat, so that you can serve your customers in a specific geographical area. 

Here are the conditions for a limited company to be granted the NAV status:

  • The company must supply water and wastewater in the order of at least 50 megalitres per year.
  • The site is ‘unserved’, meaning no premises within the area are served by an appointed company. This criterion applies for both water and wastewater services.
  • If the existing appointed company consents to the transfer of that area. 

 

Developers can request that a New Appointment and Variation (NAV or "New appointee") supplies water and/or wastewater services to their development

If you choose to work with a NAV to supply water and/or wastewater services, they will adopt, own and maintain your development network. It means as a Developer you can choose who supplies your development site and allows you to choose a NAV to replace us as the incumbent for a specific geographical area. In order to choose a NAV to service your site you must meet the criteria set out by Ofwat.

A NAV can choose to service its customers through its own resources, or by requesting use of our existing assets under a water ‘bulk supply’ or wastewater ‘bulk discharge’ agreement.

To find out more about using a NAV, visit Ofwat’s website.

The statement of NAV Charging Arrangements is published by Southern Water Services Limited as a wholesale supplier.

These charging arrangements shall apply in respect of the supply of bulk services provided at a NAV Site to an appointed water and/or sewerage undertaker.

To review our charges from 1 April 2023 please see below documents.

To review our charges from 1 April 2024, please see the below documents.

 

NAV Applications

Below is a guide on what a NAV will need to do when making a bulk supply or discharge application.

 

Don't worry, we’ll be in touch along the way to make sure everything goes smoothly

NAV clean water
  1. You send us a Site Status request

    Send us an email with your site details. We’ll let you know within 21 days whether we serve the site or not.

  2. You apply online and pay your application fee

    Fill in our online form and pay your application fee. We’ll review your application within 5 days.

  3. We send you a Bulk Service Offer

    We’ll carry out a capacity check on our network and evaluate any connection costs and design. We’ll send you a detailed Bulk Service offer within 28 days.

  4. You accept and pay

    You will need to review, accept the offer and make a payment to progress.

  5. We send you a Bulk Supply Agreement

    We’ll produce a Bulk Service Agreement within 28 days and send it to you for signature via DocuSign.

  6. We arrange a meeting and complete construction works

    Our team will schedule a meeting. Each party will complete their agreed construction works. You’ll need to complete necessary tests and submit evidence. After that agreed party will carry out the connection within 28 days.

 

NAV wastewater
  1. You send us a Site Status request

    Send us an email with your site details. We’ll let you know within 21 day whether we serve the site or not.

  2. You apply online and pay your application fee

    Fill in our online form and pay your application fee. We’ll review your application within 5 days.

  3. We send you a Bulk Service Offer

    We’ll carry out a capacity check on our network and evaluate any connection costs and design. We’ll send you a Bulk Service offer within 28 days. You’ll need to review and accept the offer.

  4. We send you a Bulk Discharge Agreement

    We’ll produce a Bulk Service Agreement within 28 days and send it to you for signature via DocuSign.

  5. You request a connection and send drawings

    You’ll need to submit S106 application information to request a sewer connection and send construction drawings. We’ll review and check that your proposal meets our standards and will send our approval.

  6. You complete your construction works

    You’ll carry out the works on site. At least two working days before the works, contact us to arrange an inspection.

  7. We issue a completion letter

    Once we are satisfied that your connection complies with our requirements, we’ll send you with a completion letter.

Step 1 – Make a Site Status Request

As a NAV you will need to understand if the site is served or unserved. An unserved site will not include any existing water or sewer connections to our network. You can ask for a site status request by sending an email to [email protected] or by stating this as a requirement in your NAV application.

Within 21 days we will confirm whether we currently serve the site or not.

If the site is currently served then we may ask for the geographical area to be revised by the NAV, or we would need to agree to give consent to transfer the existing connections. For some sites, the existing served properties are due for demolition as part of the new development plans, if this is the case you would need to officially confirm this to us and once all served properties have been demolished we would issue an unserved letter.

Step 2 - Make an Application

You can make a bulk service request by completing the NAV application form on our online portal, GetConnected.

Please remember to pay your NAV application fee appropriate to the size of a development. Our NAV application fees can be found on our Connection charging page.

Before you apply, please read our NAV Application Form Guidance Notes which will take you through what is required, including:

  • A NAV site boundary plan (with boundary drawn in green).
  • A development site plan at 1:1250 (or larger); and if known the preferred point of water and/or waste connection marked on plans. If the scheme is part of a wider development, please included the scheme boundaries on the plan.
  • Drainage plans with levels.
  • Route of the rising main, if there is an onsite wastewater pumping station.
  • An intrusive soil analysis report (if commissioned).

Once your application has been made, our team will review the information submitted and we will respond within 5 days to confirm that the documentation is complete or ask for more information if required.

Step 3 – Receive Bulk Service Offer

Within 28 days we will carry out a capacity check on our network and evaluate any connection costs and design, before sending you an offer pack that will include:

  • A bulk service report, which details an asset plan, a proposed point of connection, bulk supply and bulk discharge connection costs (as applicable).

For bulk supply requests, we will also include:

  • A bulk supply design plan.
  • A point of connection calculation sheet.
  • A NAV customer acceptance form.
  • A ‘Ways to pay’ document.

The bulk supply estimate is valid for three months, after which you will need to request a requote detailing any changes to the site so we can update your estimate as required. If our charges have changed, we will also update the estimate to reflect this. The bulk discharge costs will be in line with the current charging arrangements.

For NAV sites with onsite wastewater pumping stations, we offer a NAV pumping station discount.  Please inform us of your NAV sites that have eligible Pumping Stations and the relevant pumping station band you are applying for, so this information can be added to the legal agreement and the discount can be applied. More information on this can be found in our Methodology of NAV charges and NAV Charging Arrangement documents, which are to be published yearly.

Step 4 – Bulk Agreement

If you are happy with the bulk service offer, you can respond to us by accepting the offer via the GetConnected online dashboard – to go to your dashboard log into GetConnected.

On accepting the bulk service offer, we will put together the Bulk Service Agreement within 28 days and send to you for signature via DocuSign.

The WaterUK agreement templates and our standard agreements can be found below:

WaterUK Bulk Discharge Agreement 

Download the Bulk Discharge (BDA) – General Conditions

Download the Bulk Discharge (BDA) – Special Conditions

Download the WaterUK Bulk Supply Agreement 

Download the Supply (BSA) – General Conditions

Download the Bulk Supply (BSA) – Special Conditions

Step 5 – Awaiting Acceptance and Pay

Once you have received the bulk agreement and are ready to accept and pay the bulk service offer, you will need to do the following:

  • Ensure the bulk service offer is still valid, and if required request an updated estimate.
  • Make payment for the bulk supply and/or bulk discharge connection costs set out in the offer.
  • Sign and return the NAV customer acceptance form (if applicable).

Step 5b – Wastewater Connection

When you want the connection, please make the connection payment as stated in the Bulk Service Report and to countersign the bulk discharge agreement via your GetConnected dashboard.

You’ll need to complete further information as confirmation that the Sewer connections requested in your application for the site specified are ready for inspection and approval.

Please also include your contractor details in the ‘comments’ box.

Supporting documentation

Please provide the following supporting documents if they were not included as part of the original NAV Bulk Service Application:

  • Copies of the drainage layout plan at 1:100 (or larger), showing location of sewers and manholes on site and up to the connection point
  • Copy of planning consent
  • Site location plan at 1:1250 (or larger)

Checklist:

  • Site boundary clearly shown
  • Roads clearly shown
  • Adjacent buildings clearly shown
  • Private pipe run to Southern Water network clearly shown

We will then technically review the mode and method of connection and when the proposal meets our standards, we will provide you with the approval letter and let you know your Assistant Adoption Manager for your area.

You will now need to arrange to carry out the works on site to connect into our sewer. At least two working days before intending to carry out the works, you should contact your assigned Assistant Adoption Manager to arrange a mutually convenient inspection date so we can ensure the completed connection into our network has been carried out correctly.

Once we are happy that your connection to the public sewer complies with our requirements, we will provide you with a completion letter. The connection will now be live and you will be responsible for the billing going forwards. Any financial reconciliation due will be carried out at this point.

Step 5a – Water Connection

After your acceptance and once we have countersigned the bulk supply agreement, we will pass the site to our Project Delivery team for the construction works. A pre-start meeting will be held at your development site, in which we will confirm the start date on site and agree a schedule for the programme of work required.

Our team will then install the apparatus and confirm it is ready for your connection. Once you are ready to connect you will need to submit a chlorination certificate, from which we will arrange a final inspection of the connection and activate the new connection to our network.

The connection will now be live and you will be responsible for the billing going forwards. Any financial reconciliation due will be carried out at this point.

Apply Now

 

Useful Information

Our policies relating to NAVs can be found at handbook and documents.


Get in touch

For general enquiries not related to a submitted NAV application or questions on NAV sites outside the application/connection process, please email us at [email protected].

You can track and manage your application via the GetConnected online portal. 

 

Still have questions? We are here to help

We understand that all projects are different, and it might be hard to understand what the right and most cost-effective option is. Please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page for more guidance or simply request a call back from our helpful team. 

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