Utility Week

24 | 1ST - 7TH FEBRUARY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK Customers Event Water Customer Conference, 16 January, Birmingham W ith customers being a key area of the regulator's 2019 price review (PR19), water companies are all too aware that Ofwat is looking closely at how they aim to become truly customer-focused. Delegates at Utility Week's Water Cus- tomer Conference were in prime position to get tips on how to do just that. From how to create a customer-centric culture in AMP7 to the digital transformation the industry is going through, there was plenty of interest- ing discussion in the jam-packed day. The agenda also covered company strate- gies in both the domestic and non-domestic markets, innovative approaches to customer engagement and rising customer demands. Talking to customers To get the day under way, Claire Forbes, senior director of corporate communications at Ofwat, discussed the expectation and participation of customers. She warned that customer satisfaction in the water industry will not be achieved by simply "providing a largely invisible public service". In what she described as a "new endeavour" for the regulator, Forbes outlined how Ofwat too has been talking to customers to ensure it does not become "disconnected". "In the five years that I've been at Ofwat, we've not talked directly to customers in any kind of sustained way, preferring instead to leave companies to do so," she said. Over the past few months, Ofwat has reached out to customers across England and Wales. It has worked with water compa- nies and local contacts to meet with people in their communities – in charity and volun- teering projects, at schools and universities, or simply on high streets. Forbes explained that the regulator has not tried to "replicate" water company engagement; instead, it has been asking peo- ple to tell it what water means to them. "As a new endeavour it's been a learning curve for us; I'm very conscious that many of you here have been through extensive periods of customer engagement in PR19 and have spoken to many more people than we have done," she said. Highlighting the extreme weather events of last year, Forbes said "ensuring a reliable and consistent service is probably becoming more, not less challenging for companies". Speaking in a later session, Alan Lovell, chair of the Consumer Council for Water, said generally water companies did a good job of dealing with the practical problems of the Beast from the East but a "bad job" of communicating with customers. "Show that you really care to increase trust and legitimacy and communicate when things go wrong," he said. Ofwat's "Water Stories" engagement activ- ity found people care more about water than many people in the sector may believe. Forbes said: "I've o—en heard it said within the water sector that customers aren't interested in water. That they don't want to know about where water comes from, how it's treated or how it's taken away. That customers' only real interest in water is in the cost of the bill and that beyond that, people just aren't bothered. "And yes, in one sense, I think that's true – none of us want to have to think about water when we're getting in the shower in the morning, or when we're flushing the loo. "But one of the things we've learnt through 'Water Stories' is that, when the con- versation is started in the right way, people have a lot to say about water." One phrase that "came up again and again" in the stories Ofwat heard was: "Water is everything." She questioned that if water is every- thing, what does that mean for customer satisfaction, drawing reference to Amazon, which she described as a company that "tries to be everything" and aims to be the most "customer-centric". "And yet without even trying, water com- panies have what Amazon must yearn for; relevance in every aspect of people's lives, from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to bed. Unlike Amazon, water truly is everything." Forbes suggested water companies should move away from a transactional understand- ing of customer satisfaction to one that is "much broader and more inclusive", taking account of how people feel as much as the mechanics of the service offering. Customers are key Conference delegates learned how water firms can fulfil Ofwat's aim of a customer- centric culture. Katey Pigden reports.

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