The changes primarily affect abstractors in the Northumbria region whose charges include a ‘Kielder factor’.
Changes to the future rate charged for the Environment Improvement Unit Charge (EIUC) will affect abstractors in Anglian, Thames, Southern, North West and South West regions.
For historic reasons, all abstractors in the Northumbria region have been required to contribute towards the maintenance of Kielder reservoir even though the main beneficiary of the Kielder Transfer Scheme is Northumbria Water, the public water supply company (and its customers).
The NFU is pleased that the high Standard Unit Charge (SUC) currently imposed on all abstractors (even those who do not benefit from Kielder), which has been subject to a series of sharp increases in recent years, has been reduced for most but not all abstractors.
On the other hand, licence holders whose abstractions directly benefit from the Kielder Scheme face either significant charge increases or the imposition of new ‘Hands off Flow’ (HOF) constraints designed to prevent abstraction at times when the river system is being supported by releases from Kielder reservoir.
The NFU has worked closely with the Environment Agency to ensure that the needs of members adversely affected by these changes are accommodated.
We are particularly pleased that members will have a choice of whether to pay extra charges or accept flow restrictions depending on the needs of their individual business.
The NFU is continuing to work with the Agency to explore the possibility that small farm licences could in future be exempt from some or all of the ‘Hands Off Flow’ constraints.
On the issue of EIUC, the NFU welcomes the Agency’s decision to permanently ‘close the book’ on collecting the charge in Anglian and Southern regions by reducing it to zero in those areas.
Our position on the EIUC has not changed since the time of its introduction in 2008 and is well documented. We continue to hold the view that compensation paid to protect national and international environmental assets should be provided from central government funds and not by a levy on other abstractors who are by definition ‘sustainable abstractors’.
It follows that we are concerned about the scale of EIUC increase being implemented in Thames Region.
The EIUC in North West and South West areas will be waived for 2017/18 pending further investigations.
Further information is available on the Abstraction charges scheme 2017/18