Utility Week - authoritative, impartial and essential reading for senior people within utilities, regulators and government
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Customers UTILITY WEEK | 7TH - 13TH AUGUST 2015 | 25 Second to reliability comes value for money and customer service, with 41 per cent saying that their bills are good value and 39 per cent saying they have had good customer service from their water company. Within England and Wales, huge regional differences emerge for secondary drivers of trust. In London and the South East, having an affordable bill (45 per cent and 43 per cent respectively) is the next most selected reason for trust, whereas in the North East, South West, Wales and East Midlands a good cus- tomer service experience is chosen ahead of affordability (41 per cent, 35 per cent, 38 per cent and 40 per cent). Another interesting finding for London is that one-fih of customers trusting their sup- plier say they do so because their water sup- plier is a good employer. This is higher than in any other region. Matters of principle Where customers expressed distrust of their water supplier, this tended to be based on views about charges and principles rather than service. One in ten customers don't trust their supplier and this is most likely to be because they see their water bills as poor value for money (42 per cent), or as unafford- able (20 per cent). Perceptions of water com- pany profits are also important, with 46 per cent choosing this as one of their reasons to distrust. Customers in Wales are least likely to say that their bills are poor value or that too much is given to "fat cats" and shareholders. This may be explained by the fact that the main supplier in Wales, Dwr Cymru Welsh Water, is a not-for-profit organisation. As highlighted before, customers in Wales have come out as most trusting in our survey. Some customers (25 per cent) feel fairly neutral about trust. We asked them what their water company could do to help them form a more trusting view and almost two- thirds (62 per cent) said that reducing their bill or giving less money to shareholders (31 per cent) would help. To engender trust, it is important that water companies can identify and engage these households, offering them money- saving solutions, be these tariffs, meters or water efficiency tips, and that they can show customers how their services are value for money. In addition, it is key that companies com- municate openly and transparently about why they need to make profits, where they go and whether they plan to share them with customers at some point. Ali Sims, research director, DJS Research How much do you trust your water or water and sewerage company? How much do you trust your electricity, gas or dual fuel company? Water and sewerage company Energy Source: CCWater – Water matters: Annual Tracking Survey Base: all respondents: water and sewerage 3,644, energy 5,615 n 2010 n 2011 n 2012 n 2013 n 2014 7.34 7.37 7.18 7.26 7.82 7.16 6.84 6.62 6.48 7.42 LEVEL OF TRUST IN WATER AND SEWERAGE COMPANIES AND GAS AND ELECTRICITY COMPANIES