Water supplier 'breached licence'

The regulator examined a £16m deficit at the company

Northern Ireland Water has been found guilty of breaching its operating licence and must improve performance, the Utility Regulator has said.

The regulator, Iain Osborne, has been examining a £16m deficit caused by an over-estimation of revenue from business customers.

NI Water said lessons have been learned and changes have been implemented.

The regulator has said he will issue an enforcement order to compel NI Water to address the deficiencies.

NI Water has offered to provide legally binding undertakings to the regulator to improve its systems of planning and control.

"We're not trying to punish the company, we're trying to get them to fix these problems," Mr Osborne said.

However, he said that if the company did not improve they would impose an enforcement order in January and if that if that did not work he would take NI Water to court.

While the regulator's investigation found no evidence of dishonesty or a conspiracy to hide information it did flag up serious shortcomings in the area of management and data collection.

"Weaknesses in systems of planning and control have been identified, and we are pleased that NIW has indicated that it will act to address these deficiencies," he said.

"We look forward to the implementation of these improvements in a way that promotes maximum confidence for consumers.

"We intend to use our legal powers to supervise closely the company's actions to fix these problems.

"Should NIW fail to deliver on its undertakings we remain ready to act in the consumer interest by imposing an enforcement order."

NI Water was set up in 2006 as a so-called Go-Co to replace the state functions of the Department of Regional Development's Water Services.