Utility Week

The Month in Review UTILITY WEEK | OCTOBER 2022 | 7 Scottish Power and Utilita rapped by Ofgem Scottish Power was issued with a provisional order by Ofgem in September compelling the sup- plier to improve the way it treats customers in debt. It came ahead of the publi- cation of findings following the regulator's full market review into how suppliers support struggling customers. A review conducted by Ofgem into Scottish Power's practices found "a number of apparent failings" around the way it sets debt repayment plans and deals with customers strug- gling with bills. The provisional order com- pels Scottish Power to pause dis- connections for those customers with active, agreed or overdue repayment plans of £5 per week (per fuel) or below. It must also contact and review all custom- ers on debt repayment plans of £5 per week per fuel, or below, to ensure they are based on their ability to pay. Earlier in September, Utilita had been ordered to improve its treatment of prepayment meter customers. In particular, it was told by the regulator to stop telling peo- ple they are not required to pro- vide additional support credit to vulnerable prepayment meter customers who are thought to be self-disconnecting. South Staffs is the only water company to raise C-Mex score All but one of the water and wastewater companies have seen a decline in their cus- tomer service scores in 2021/22, according to the latest figures from Ofwat. The exception was South Staffs Water. The regulator has released rankings for both the customer measure of experience (C-Mex), which gauges the quality of services for household customers, and the developer services measure of experience (D-Mex), which tracks the qual- ity of services for developers and other third parties. C-Mex scores are deter- mined based on based on Although overall C-Mex scores remained better than in 2019/20, South Staffs was the only company to see an increase when compared to 2020/21. Its score rose from 81.89 to 83.38, pushing it up six places to fourth. Wessex moved up one place to top the table with a score of 84.82. Northumbrian also moved up one place to second, whilst the previous leader, Portsmouth, dropped two places to third. Thames again came in last, with its score declining from 72.92 to 68.86. Southern also stayed in second to last place, with its score dropping from 74.64 to 72. Ofwat described the results as a "cause for concern" and said all firms should be imme- diately taking steps to improve. It said Thames and Southern are both expected to incur "significant" underper- formance penalties. The com- panies received penalties of £16.8 million and £4.9 million for their scores in 2020/21. The picture was better for D-Mex scores, with the majority of companies seeing an increase. Hafren Dyfrdwy moved up three places to first a›er raising its score from 89.01 to 91.27. Severn Trent dropped one place to second, whilst Portsmouth Water remained in third. Both companies increased their scores. The Month in Review 90% of customers have taken some sort of action to mitigate the impact of rising energy bills, according to a survey commissioned by KPMG. £185m Estimated cost of separating the Electricity System Operator from the rest of National Grid and transforming it into the Future System Operator, according to the ESO's calculations. Bristol Water Mel Karam, the chief executive of Bristol Water, will retire from the company upon the completion of its integra- tion into Pennon Group aer being acquired last year. Karam, who has led Bristol since 2017, will take the role of group integration director at Pennon until the official integration of Bristol with South West Water, when he will step down and retire from the group. Parent company Pennon added Bristol to its group in June 2021, increasing its water portfolio in the South West of England that also includes Bournemouth Water. Paul Boote, presently group finance director at Pennon, has been appointed group chief financial officer, which includes assuming the top finance roles at both Bristol and South West. Louise Rowe, finance director at South West, and Laura Flowerdew, chief financial officer and director at Bristol, have both assumed new roles at Pennon. Affinity Water Affinity Water has appointed Keith Has- lett as chief executive, a year aer Pauline Walsh departed the role. He replaces Stuart Ledger who has been interim chief executive for the past 12 months. Utility Week understands that Ledger, who stepped up to the role aer the departure of Walsh last September, will leave Affinity to join Southern Water as chief financial officer aer five years with Affinity. Haslett, who has been water director at Northumbrian since 2020, is expected to join Affinity in November with Ledger remaining in an advisory role until that point. Prior to Northumbrian, Haslett spent almost six years with United Utilities as executive director of wastewater and business manager. His experience includes roles at overseas water companies at Northern Ireland Water as well as in Estonia and New Zealand. ON THE MOVE Join us at Utility Week's new flagship event The Utility Week Forum will take a fresh approach to debating the com- peting objectives of affordability, sustainability and resilience. Hear from the leaders of Eon, Ofwat, UK Power Networks, and Yorkshire Water as well as some new voices joining the debate. London 8-9 November For information: events.utilityweek.co.uk/forum

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