Northumbrian Water Limited (NWL) operates in the north east of England, where it trades as Northumbrian Water, and in the south east of England, where it trades as Essex & Suffolk Water.
Northumbrian Water currently provides water and sewerage services to 2.7 million people and Essex & Suffolk Water provides water services to 1.8 million people.
44 impounding reservoirs
57 water treatment works
344 water pumping stations
338 water service reservoirs
25,545 km water mains
418 sewage treatment works
765 sewage pumping stations
29,724 km sewers
We are licensed to provide these services and currently supply over 1,170 megalitres of water per day. This water is drawn from reservoirs, where it is collected and stored, rivers and groundwater sources. It is treated at our works before it is delivered by a network of pipes to homes and businesses.
In the north east of England, where we also provide sewerage services, waste water is then collected from these properties via the sewerage network and treated at our works before it is returned to the environment as either clean water or sludge which can be recycled as fertiliser or used to generate energy.
Our water and sewerage services in the north east cost an average householder 91 pence per day and in Essex and Suffolk area, 56 pence for a water only service.
The Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), as the economic regulator, sets price limits for companies in England and Wales every five years. 2010/11 was the first year in the current five year investment plan. This regulation is performance based and companies are measured in terms of efficiencies related to operating costs, capital programmes and financing as well as their general operations. The regulated revenue of the company is set by reference to the rate of inflation, measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI), as well as an adjustment factor referred to as ‘k’. The profile of ‘k’ for the current five year period is shown below:
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North east England
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Northumbrian Water provides water and sewerage services to 2.7 million people in the north east of England. The major population centres of Tyneside, Wearside and Teesside are in our area but we also serve large rural areas in Northumberland and County Durham (provision of waste water services only in Hartlepool).
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South east England
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Essex & Suffolk Water provides water services to two separate supply areas. Our Essex area, which has a population of 1.5 million, is part rural and part urban with the main areas of population being in Chelmsford, Southend and the London Boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge. We serve a population of 0.3 million in our Suffolk area, which is mainly rural with the biggest towns being Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.
