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When you apply to us for a connection, you have the choice of keeping full control of your job or nominating one or more representatives to deal with us on your behalf. This includes nominating different people or companies to deal with us on a day-to-day basis for on-site works, or to manage or pay for the works. This ability to nominate different people has always been available and will remain to be available, but we want to make sure the scope and impact  of your options are clear to you.

To address this and to help you understand your options, we’ve defined the following Key Contacts.

The Key Contacts

We need to identify three key roles on every job to ensure that the right matters are handled by the right people. These are the Connecting Customer, Commercial Contact and Payer, each of whom can be a single contact or a company.  You can keep and carry out all three roles yourself, or you can allocate the Commercial Contract and/or Payer roles to other people or companies on your behalf.

The Connecting Customer

The Connecting Customer is the person or company who will ultimately use the connection. This is typically the landowner, occupier, or in the case of an Independent Distribution Network Operator (IDNO) application, the IDNO themselves.

As the Connecting Customer, you will have ultimate authority on the job, unless you choose to appoint a Commercial Contact and/or Payer to act on your behalf. However, by appointing others to these roles, you are effectively handing over the below rights and responsibilities to that person or company. If you decide to appoint someone else as the Payer or Commercial Contact, then as the Connecting Customer, you will always have the right to reclaim the role at any time during the course of the job.

As the Connecting Customer, you will be asked to sign off on any appointment or re-appointment of the Commercial Contact or Payer. Where agreement is required but cannot be reached between the Connecting Customer, Commercial Contact and Payer, you have overall authority.

Hopefully this doesn’t sound too complex, but we’ll be there throughout the life of your job to advise you of your options and what they mean.

Please also remember that you, the Connecting Customer, can always decide to be the only contact on your job, in which case we’ll only deal with you.

The Commercial Contact

The Commercial Contact is the person or company appointed by the Connecting Customer to manage the application and the connection project  on their behalf, and there’s no limit on who this can be. We find that this is typically a developer, consultant, architect, Independent Connection Provider (ICP), installer or a relative of the Connecting Customer.

There can only be one Commercial Contact on the job at any time, and the Commercial Contact on this job:

  • Will be considered the main contact for all commercial and technical matters;
  • Will have the rights to change contact and technical information, accept or reject contracts and variations, and receive certain payment information.
  • Might be the sole party to receive connection offers, connection agreements and other commercially sensitive information available for the job;
  • Will be responsible for providing technical information related to the job;
  • May request changes to the contract, including any technical information;
  • May accept / reject offers;
  • May propose variations for review;
  • May agree payment terms; and
  • May relinquish the role of Commercial Contact at any time, but must give prior written notice to us and the Connecting Customer.

The Payer

The Payer is the person or company appointed by the Connecting Customer to manage the finances on the job. Again, there’s no limit on whom this can be.

There can only be one Payer on the job at any time, and  the Payer on this job:

  • Will be considered the main contact for all financial matters;
  • Will be the sole party to receive invoices, VAT documentation and credit notes;
  • Will be responsible for making sure that all future payments are made on time and to the correct amount;
  • Will be the recipient of any refunds or rebates, where applicable;
  • Will be responsible for management of payments in accordance with applicable laws and HMRC regulations; and
  • May relinquish the role as the Payer at any time, but must give prior written notice to us and the Connecting Customer.

Any other roles on the job (site agent, designer, consultants, etc.) will be subordinate to the three roles set out above, and we will take our instructions from the Connecting Customer, the Commercial Contact and the Payer on the basis set out here,

Please remember that we’ll be there throughout the life of your job to advise you of your options and what they mean. And we’re always available if you have any questions.