Service standards explained: what network operators must deliver, and when

When you apply for a new connection, the network operator doesn’t get to take as long as it likes. In water, electricity and gas, there are published timescales for the main steps, such as sending you a quote or approving a design. In some cases the operator has to pay you if it misses them.

Few developers use these rights. Knowing they exist helps you plan, and it gives you something firmer than “we’re chasing it” when a job stalls.

The short version

• Each industry sets timescales for the network operator’s work on new connections.
• In electricity and gas these are guaranteed standards, set by law or licence. Miss one, and the network operator has to pay you a set amount.
• In water, every company has signed up to the same levels of service. On self-lay schemes in England, missing some of them means refunding the fee for that step, and performance affects how much a company can earn.
• The clock usually starts only when your application is complete and any fee is paid.

Electricity

The Electricity (Connection Standards of Performance) Regulations 2015 cover every distribution network operator in Great Britain. They set guaranteed standards for:

• budget estimates, for an early idea of cost;
• formal quotes, with different timescales for different sizes of job;
• scheduling and completing the work once you accept the quote, and switching it on.

If the network operator misses a standard, it must pay you a set sum, without you having to claim it. The amounts and timescales are in each network operator’s “notice of rights”, which it has to publish. There are exemptions, for example where the delay is caused by something outside its control, or where you haven’t given it the information it needs.

If you think a quote is wrong, the regulations also let you challenge it, through a quotation accuracy scheme.

When your partner builds the network. The guaranteed standards cover the network operator’s own work. When your partner, an independent connection provider, builds the contestable part, the network operator still has tasks to do, such as confirming the point of connection, approving the design and making the final connection. Those are covered by the Competition in Connections Code of Practice, which sets out how network operators must work with partners. Each operator publishes an annual report on how it meets the code.

Gas

Ofgem sets guaranteed standards for gas network operators too. They cover how quickly the operator must send a quote and how it handles the work it has agreed to do. As in electricity, a missed standard means a set payment, usually made automatically, and each operator publishes its own notice of rights with the current amounts.

Gas work on new housing is shrinking, because new homes are moving to low-carbon heating. The standards still apply to the connections that are made.

Water

Water works differently. All water companies in England and Wales have agreed to the same levels of service for developer services, published by Water UK. They cover things like how quickly the company responds to applications, sends quotes, approves designs and makes connections. They apply whether the water company does the work or your partner, a self-lay provider, does.

Companies report their performance against these levels, and Water UK publishes the results, so you can see how your water company is doing.

There are two ways a missed level comes back to you:

• Refunds. On self-lay schemes in England, the industry rules require the water company to refund the fee for a step when it misses certain service levels, without being asked. For other developer services, redress depends on the company’s own scheme.
• Ofwat’s D-MeX incentive. D-MeX has a financial effect on water companies. Part of the score comes from a survey of recent developer customers, and the rest from performance against the service levels. If you’re asked to take part in the survey, your answers count towards it.

Making the standards work for you

Get your application right first time. Almost every timescale starts from a complete application, with the fee paid. A missing drawing or an unpaid invoice can stop the clock before it starts.

Keep dates. Note when you submitted, when the network operator confirmed it was complete, and when each response arrived. If a payment or refund is due, that record is what you’ll rely on.

Keep the application in your name. The applicant should be whoever makes the decisions on the project, usually you as the developer. The network operator takes instructions from the applicant, and payments and refunds go to them. A consultant can still manage the application for you, with your written authority, while you stay the applicant.

Escalate properly. If you think a standard has been missed and nothing has happened, raise it with the network operator first. If that doesn’t resolve it, energy disputes can go to Ofgem, and water disputes to Ofwat.

What to check first

• The current notice of rights or redress scheme for each network operator on your site.
• What counts as a complete application, so the clock starts as early as possible.
• That you’re named as the applicant, so decisions and any payments stay with you.
• Your water company’s latest levels of service results.