Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | JANUARY 2021 | 11 Interview "We're pretty hot on the level of management infor- mation and measure C-Mex down to individual teams. That provides us with great data to manage issues. Good information and investment in systems helps, when our people turn up on customers' doorsteps they already have their history including billing information." He says a service ethos runs through the business's culture. Does being a not-for-profit company change how bill- payers feel? Perry admits it is a consideration and helps with trust issues but says it doesn't make customers for- giving. "And why should it?" he asks: "If we say to some- one sorry you've got a problem but we're not for profit, we'd get the short shi…." "Customers will always tell us when we've got some- thing wrong and how they expect us to perform," Perry says. "Although understanding of non-profit has grown considerably to more than 70 per cent, it doesn't give us any let-off that people would forgive poor service. "It's almost the other way because there is an expec- tation we will always do the right thing, which is the way it should be." Ruth Williams, water correspondent previous methods and the pioneering technology is far less carbon intensive. "When it comes to improving wastewater networks, we can't do it on our own. There's surface water that water companies are not responsible for, there's high- way drainage. Sensible legislative changes that can help us in that space would be useful. "We need societal understanding of the problem and understanding that it can't be fixed overnight – it's a long process." He says all water companies are committed to this and realise the role they play, but he adds that each company is just a part in the bigger fix. "We galvanise around big topics really well," Perry says. "In areas that we have a common interest everyone recognises the sum of the total is bigger than the parts. There's a real desire to cooperate." One such area is making sure Brexit does not inter- rupt safe water supplies. Perry chairs the Water UK Brexit preparedness group and says the twice weekly meetings served a double purpose this year. The national incident structure, which has been in place since 2018, was constituted for Covid-19 as well as the EU exit. When this interview was conducted back in Novem- ber, he assured: "Everything that is in our control is under control. We have an industry level plan for the chemical supply chain, which is the biggest issue. We are trebling stocks at treatment works where we can or in the supply chain, so there won't be any immediate problems. The processes are well tested and we're final- ising stock levels for the end of December." Future proofing is important. Welsh Water is spend- ing more than £150 million on its dams, which Perry describes as a long-term climate change investment: "We've done a huge amount of work with a number of academics about the impact of climate change in Wales and we know investing now for future generations and getting stores the right size not for today's weather but for the next 50 or 60 years is hugely important. The company has pledged to generate 35 per cent of the energy it needs by 2025. Currently it is at 29 per cent. At the end of the previous AMP, two anaerobic digestion plants were commissioned, to make four, and there are a plethora of large hydro schemes from previous AMP cycles. "We are now at the point of looking at some more leading-edge opportunities." These include trials to convert advanced anaerobic digesters from producing methane to hydrogen under a partnership with local authorities. "If we can bulk that up with more local authorities, it's a good prospect to move forward with powering our fleet. We are designing a route for the hydrogen, so that will give us the basis for the investment case to convert the plant at Cardiff." Welsh Water's ambitions were recently recognised when the company topped the inaugural C-Mex chart with its strong scores on customer satisfaction. It has also been named the most trusted water company in England and Wales by CCW several years running. Perry says customers of any business value certain fundamentals, which Welsh Water strives to get right. "Customers want a company to do what it says it will, and when things go wrong to deal with it very efficiently. Our analysis shows people want problems dealt with quickly by someone knowledgeable, so we get that deci- sion-making as close to the frontline as possible.

• Cover