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Ofwat Challenges Water Companies To Cut Leaks
Water companies in England and Wales have been challenged by regulator Ofwat to improve the level of service they offer their customers, while investing in reducing water leaks across their networks and keeping bills at affordable levels .
Earlier in December, Ofwat shared its final piece of methodology for its forthcoming price review, which will set out the limits that customers can be charged for water services between 2020 and 2025.
However, one of the main things to come out of the review is a need to improve where water leaks are concerned, with the regulator keen to save 170 billion litres of water a year by improving the water delivery network and through better water leak detection by water firms.
Ofwat will also be publishing details of how water companies in England and Wales will be expected to support the most vulnerable customers and ensure that those in difficult circumstances are not penalised.
Cathryn Ross, Ofwat chief executive, commented: “We will cut the financing costs they can recover from customers and, with this lower guaranteed return, they will need to be more efficient and innovative than ever before.”
Business customers will no doubt be hoping that the Ofwat review also deals with some of the issues they face when dealing with certain water companies in England and Wales.
Among the main issues are bills and demands for payment being sent out up to five months in advance, as well as incorrect bills being sent out.
H2O Building Services recently identified Castle Water and Water Plus as the two worst offenders when it comes to sending out incorrect bills, or asking for months’ worth of payments up front for a metered bill.
This means many business customers are losing faith in the deregulated water market in the UK – and if the situation continues without any improvement it’s likely to mean a larger number of cases coming across Ofwat’s desk to deal with providers that are failing to live up to the standards expected.
The review by Ofwat therefore comes at a good time to try to stamp out some of these recurring problems, although there is likely to be little action from water firms until much later in the year.
They will have until September 2018 to respond to the regulator with their detailed proposals of how they intend to introduce Ofwat’s recommendations. Until then, customers will have to continue to put up with a poor service in some areas and hope that switching providers can improve their situation.
At the end of November, an Ofwat report noted that while some water companies are doing well when it comes to sharing information with customers, and making sure they understand the communications, others are lagging behind.
Bristol Water, Dee Valley Water, Southern Water and Thames Water were all singled out as a result of their “shortcomings in the data handling”, which means that customers cannot be certain that the information they are being sent about their accounts is complete or accurate.
The regulator stressed that this is something that water firms should pay particular attention to, because they are providing such a vital public service.