Environment Agency charge proposals for materials facilities

We have reviewed our charges against the need to fulfil our current and new regulatory duties. We know our charges can affect those we regulate so we have considered our proposals carefully. We are always interested to hear how you think we can regulate more fairly, while safeguarding the environment more effectively.

Our aim is to achieve a consistent and transparent approach in how we charge for regulating materials facilities operations at waste permitted sites.

Inflationary increase to charges

We propose to update our charges annually in line with inflation so that we maintain full cost recovery. The annual additional subsistence charge for materials facilities under the environmental permitting and abstraction charging scheme will be updated annually on 1 April. The Office for National Statistics’ measure of Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation as of 30 September in the immediately preceding year will be used. Any increase to the additional subsistence charge for materials facilities will be equal to or less than this measure. Increases will be less if we believe our increased costs do not equate to the CPI measure. We would round the charge to the nearest pound.

We have chosen the CPI measure as this is widely recognised, understood, and accepted as a measure of cost inflation. It is used by:

• economic regulators to set regulated charges
• government to set taxes and benefits
• employers in wage bargaining
• private sector companies to set payment amounts in business contracts

We therefore believe it is the most appropriate measure of the increases in our own costs. If we believe our charges need to increase by more than the CPI, we will commence another review, seek HM Treasury approval, and carry out a public consultation.