Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | march 2015 | 11 Industry leader Cathryn Ross, chief executive, Ofwat "We are on a real journey with Totex... Pr14 was just the start of that journey." W ith bills reducing in real terms across the board, and busi- ness plans that were oriented towards a Totex-based ap- proach, the recently concluded price review will be remembered for a number of things. But the most revelatory element about PR14 has been the way that the water industry has reconnected with its customers, according to Ofwat chief executive Cathryn Ross. "I think that the way the companies have stepped up to the challenge on customer engage- ment has been one of the most amazing things about this price review Рit's been a massive step change from what has gone before," says Ross. "In total, the water companies spoke to more than a quarter of a million customers directly in the process of their customer engagement, which is undoubtedly the biggest customer conversa- tion the sector has ever had." Ross was speaking to WWT on the day before it was confirmed that 17 of the 18 country's water and sewerage companies had accepted their final price determinations from the regulator; only Bristol Water has opted to appeal against its determination to the CMA. The sector will now start the process of putting their five-year business plans Рwith targets based on all those customer conversations Рinto action. Ross says that she thinks engagement exercises with customers have been "a real eye- opener" for many of the water companies. While the basics of what customers want - security of supply, affordable bills, a swiΠresolution of problems Рwill come as no surprise to anybody, some interesting regional differences have been revealed. For example, Welsh Water's customers wanted them to take action on social tariffs to make bills cheaper for the less well-off in society, a move that the utility is now implementing; yet customers in other supply areas, such as York- shire and Northumbrian, were less convinced by the idea. Customer engagement As a positive example of engagement, Ross also cites the example of Affinity Water, which gave its customers a real choice on how to meet its future supply-demand imbalance. Confronted by a menu of alternative approaches, customers indicated they were happy to see an emphasis on reducing water consumption; a choice that should give the company a high degree of buy- in for the demand management measures it is implementing in 2015-20. It is the first time that water companies have been able to be so responsive to their customers in drawing up their business objectives. Ross also believes that the very process of publishing clear, individualised targets will make the sector more accountable before customers for their performance. "What's going to be really interesting over the next five years is the effect of transparency," she says. "We've now got more than 500 performance commitments across the sector, which are really clear and transparent, and the companies are

• Cover