Section 4 Impact of equalisation levies and payments on water charges.

(1)

For the purposes of Part III (financial provisions) of the 1973 c. 37.Water Act 1973 and, in particular, subsection (4) of section 30 of that Act (in fixing charges for services, facilities etc., a water authority shall have regard to the cost of performing those services and providing those facilities)—

(a)

any equalisation levy which a water authority is required to pay in respect of any year shall be treated as an addition to the cost to the authority in the corresponding accounting period of providing water supplies on an unmeasured basis; and

(b)

any equalisation payment received by a water authority in respect of any year shall be applied in the reduction of the amount which would otherwise represent the cost to the authority in the corresponding accounting period of providing water supplies on an unmeasured basis.

(2)

Notwithstanding anything in any enactment,—

(a)

the amount of any equalisation levy which a statutory water company is required to pay in respect of any year, and

(b)

the amount of any equalisation payment which a statutory water company is entitled to receive in respect of any year,

shall be passed on in full, in the form of increased or reduced charges, to the persons to whom water is supplied by the company on an unmeasured basis in the corresponding accounting period.