Utility Week

UTILITY WEEK | 23RD FEBRUARY - 1ST MARCH 2018 | 7 Interview I t's two years since Michael Roberts took the helm at Water UK, taking on responsibility for its continued evolution away from being a pure play industry lobby group, and towards a more dynamic role as a co-ordina- tor of key water sector campaigns and operational best practice sharing. And despite those two years throwing up unexpect- edly trying conditions – namely a political backlash against water companies for opaque financing and lack- lustre customer service – he says he has no regrets about taking the chief executive job. "What really attracted me is that some of the chal- lenges facing the water industry are really significant, such as pressures presented by economic growth and cli- mate change in a sector that has a legacy infrastructure and provides a service that is so fundamental to our eve- ryday quality of life," he tells Utility Week when we meet at Water UK's headquarters in London. "The chance to work with other companies and part- ners within the sector – to work through these chal- lenges – was a really exciting opportunity. Nothing has happened in the past two years to suggest that was the wrong call to make. On the contrary, the issues have proved to be even more interesting than perhaps I had anticipated at the time." Roberts' experience grappling with high level indus- try challenges is extensive. He has previously held senior roles at the Confederation of British Industry, working in policy development across a range of sectors including the environment, energy and transport, before which he worked in political consultancy. He has also served as a non-executive director of the Carbon Trust. Before joining Water UK, Roberts was chief executive at the Association of Train Operating Companies between 2008 and 2015 – a role which was combined with the that of director general of the Rail Delivery Group from 2014. Now, with Water UK, he is responsible for a hub that brings together the interests of major water and waste- water service providers across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. "A lot of what we do is about helping to shape and influence the policy framework in which companies can operate," Roberts explains. "But apart from trying to shape policy from Defra [the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] or the Environment Agency, for example, there are other things we do. We help provide information on behalf of the sector to the outside world to inform people about what we do and how we do it. This includes the Discover Water website as well as other initiatives such as our recent Refill announcement." A week before Utility Week meets Roberts, the water industry launched a national scheme to cut plastic bottle use by tens of millions a year while increasing the availa- bility of free drinking water. Water companies across the UK are joining forces with City to Sea, the driving force behind the Refill scheme, to create a network of stations for the public to refill their water bottles. There will be refill points in every major city and town in England by 2021. Whitbread, which owns Costa Cof- fee and Premier Inn, was the first business to join the

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