Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 5TH - 11TH OCTOBER 2018 | 7 News on written complaints. It saw a 39.8 per cent reduction in the measure compared with 2016/17. CCWater says Dee Valley did well to reduce unwanted contacts by a third but its written complaints increased by a simi- lar amount. And despite South Staffs Water and Portsmouth Water seeing an increase in unwanted contacts of more than 10 per cent, the watchdog said they still "compared com- paratively well". The Beast from the East Although overall industry complaints fell during the year, there was a 10 per cent rise in the number relating to water supply, as some water companies struggled with the disruption caused by the sudden thaw following March's Beast from the East. More than 200,000 customers were le without running water, with many households criticising the poor communication and support they received from their supplier. Tony Smith, chief executive of CCWater, says: "The frustration felt by thousands of customers aer March's cold weather disruption to supplies should have reminded the industry that it cannot afford to be complacent. "Some water companies still have a lot to learn when it comes to communicating effec- tively and ensuring that when something goes wrong they put it right quickly and with the minimum of fuss. The poor perform- ers highlighted in our report can expect to come under considerable pressure from us to improve this year." A spokesperson for Ofwat adds: "Our review into water companies' handling of the Beast from the East revealed some hard lessons, particularly around planning, cus- tomer communication, and support for those in vulnerable circumstances. "On the back of our review, we required four water companies (Thames Water, Sev- ern Trent, Southern Water and South East Water) to submit by the end of September a detailed, externally audited action plan set- ting out how they are addressing the issues identified. If we are not satisfied, we'll con- sider further action." Meanwhile, industry trade body Water UK welcomes the overall fall in complaints. Michael Roberts, chief executive of Water UK, says: "It's pleasing to see a fall in complaints this year despite the impact of the Beast from the East and the dry summer. The figures published [on 20 September] continue a downward trend in both metrics, with complaints and unwanted calls falling by almost 70 per cent over the past decade. 0.5% Unwanted telephone contacts down on the previous year. 10% Increase in water supply complaints partly caused by the freeze/thaw in March 2018. 17% Fall in written complaints compared with the previous year. 95.7% Percentage of written complaints resolved at the first stage of the company procedure. 2 The lowest ever number of CCWater investigations for household customer complaints against companies in the year. Source: CCWater's Household complaints to water companies in England and Wales April 2017 – March 2018 report Naming and shaming has persuaded water companies to take complaints seriously. W hen we arrived on the scene exactly 13 years ago we were confronted with a water industry that was facing a growing tide of customer dissatisfaction. Inflation-busting price rises had fuelled a surge in written complaints, which peaked in 2007/08 at more than 273,000. Fast forward a decade and the publication of our latest complaints tells a very different story. Complaints are now 70 per cent lower than they were during the height of the industry's troubles. Not every page of the report makes positive reading, and the fact that customers still had to make 2.1 million "unwanted telephone contacts" to resolve service problems supports our view that the industry still has much more to do. One of the keys to our long- term success in driving down complaints has been the use of comparative data to publicly expose poor performers, while praising companies that find themselves at the top of the league. It's a tactic built on the firm belief that businesses – including water companies – prize their reputation which, much like trust, is hard to earn but all too easy to lose. Over the years, we've met strong resistance from some companies desperate not to be criticised in our report, knowing full well that it will guarantee them a wave of negative headlines. That has made it an invaluable tool in our armoury. Take, for instance, the performance of Bourne- mouth Water. Two years ago the company came under fire from us for a 90 per cent rise in writ- ten complaints and was asked to provide us with quarterly reports highlighting the action it was taking to turn around its performance. Within two years the company has returned to being one of the industry's best performers. That's the kind of reaction we want to see from the three companies – Bristol Water, SES Water and Southern Water – that have been asked to take similar action in the wake of this year's report. The fact Southern finds itself bottom for the sixth straight year shows that reputational damage is not always enough of an incentive. Our pursuit of poor performers needs to be backed up by tough regulatory penalties. So far the service incentive mechanism (SIM) has provided pressure on complaints, but is this sufficient? SIM will soon make way for Ofwat's new C-MeX measure. We support a strong additional incentive which forces compa- nies to look at improving their general customer perception. But there also needs to be pres- sure on complaint performance that is strong enough to improve any water companies that are in danger of lagging behind. Whether C-MeX will do this remains to be seen. Only time will tell whether C-MeX aids or hampers our efforts to keep a foot on the throat of companies that should and could do better. Comment Tony Smith Chief executive, Consumer Council for Water 2017/18 in numbers Tony Smith will be speaking at this year's Utility Week Congress on 9 and 10 October. For more details go to event.utilityweek. co.uk/congress/

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