Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 9TH - 15TH FEBRUARY 2018 | 9 Policy & Regulation vious framework review, Ofwat said the com- pany's information still lacked transparency, especially with regard to the way in commu- nicates outcomes to customers. It said certain shortcomings in the reli- ability and accuracy of information had demonstrably "reduced stakeholder trust and confidence". Strategic overhaul Bristol Water's strategy and regulation direc- tor Iain Mcguffog (see box, opposite) tells Utility Week this "reflects the stage in the company's journey". He insists Bristol Water is trusted by its customers but argues that the company's ambitious strategic overhaul could not have come without some friction. "The key thing is Bristol Water's responsibility to make sure its data is accurate. Our data generally is accu- rate, and Ofwat has recognised the improve- ments that have been made on that. The next focus for us is on demonstrating that." Summing up Bristol's spirit as a deter- mined underdog, Mcguffog says: "We're not arguing about where we are as a company, but we're determined to improve – it's one of our top priorities. Transparency is an issue for the whole industry, particularly in the current climate. "If the regulator's telling you you're worse than other people, that's not a place you want to be, but irrespective of that sta- tus, everybody's got more to do, and we are focused on it." And in truth, Bristol's strong relationship with its customers – bolstered by the city's famously engaged and community-centred culture – gives Bristol a leg-up in achieving the turnaround it wants. Tangible change The latest Customer Satisfaction Index, pro- duced by the Institute of Customer Service, placed the company joint top out of all the water companies, alongside Yorkshire Water. Director of customer services Ben Newby believes the company has a special connec- tion with its customers because of its Bristol brand. Customers think of it as "their water company", he says. Added to this is the fact that 89 per cent of Bristol Water employees are also Bristol Water customers. Its challenge now is twofold: to build on this strong foundation, while driving at internal improvements to asset performance and data practices which may be disruptive to employees, systems and customers alike; and to achieve enough tangible change by the time business plans are submitted, to convince Ofwat that further transformation targets are both sincerely set and realistic. The top management team Iain Mcguffog, director of strategy and regulation Iain Mcguffog has been with Bristol Water for four months but has worked in the water sector since 2002, when he was appointed economic regulation manager at South West Water. There, he carried out a variety of activi- ties, including overseeing the 2009 and 2014 price reviews. He also helped design the government contribution of £50 on household bills, which aims to address the unfairness of 3 per cent of the nation's population in South West Water's region supporting the £2 billion Clean Sweep clean-up of a third of the country's bath- ing waters. Mcguffog le South West Water in 2015 and joined Ofwat's strategy and planning team as a director, where he helped in the household retail review. Ed Barnes, head of regulatory pro- gramme management (PR19) Ed Barnes was recruited by Bristol Water to lead the production of its PR19 business plans and its submission to Ofwat. Prior to joining Bristol Water, Barnes worked for a micro-SME, which was working largely on European- funded research programmes – big Hori- zon 2020 programmes. For the 14-15 years before this, he held a variety of roles at the Environment Agency – starting on the water side before moving to cover wastewater and then waste. Ben Newby, customer services director Ben Newby has worked for Bristol Water for five years, previously as director of business improvement and IT. The customer services and IT directo- rate, which Newby heads, is responsible for customer contact, billing, debt collection, IT and communications. It also looks aer Bristol Water's "recrea- tions business" and is accountable for the company's success in new competitive water markets as they develop. Before Bristol, Water Newby worked for a range of companies including Serco, First Group, Bank of Ireland and BT. "One of the things we've been trying to do is really own the relationship with customers. We're absolutely on board with Ofwat's direction of the business owning customer engagement, customer direc- tion. That's something which we've fully embraced." "The full design of everything we are doing is about under- standing where we've gone wrong in the past, understand- ing why the regulator was applying those challenges to us, and then saying what does that mean for us as a business going forward. A core part of that is engagement with our customers from the start." "Our stakeholders recognise that there is a role for a socially responsible, community- focused company. They want us to lead across the social chal- lenges in Bristol and contribute across the environmental chal- lenges as well." "PR19 is going to be pretty hard for everybody. That's no sur- prise, and anybody who thinks it's not going to be challenging is going to find that out to their cost. Price reviews are always full of surprises."

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