Transforming Customer Service in the Water Sector

In February 2024, Ofwat introduced a dedicated condition in the licence of each company in England and Wales to transform the care they give their customers, particularly those who need extra help with their services. Ofwat call this their ‘customer-focused licence condition’.

The licence condition serves to help increase companies’ customer focus and encourage the very best service for customers through achieving Ofwat’s ‘Principles for Customer Care’:

• Communicating proactively with customers, particularly during incidents.
• Being easy to contact.
• Providing support for customers when things go wrong and help to put things right.
• Learning from past experiences, sharing these with others, and demonstrating continual improvement to prevent foreseeable harm to its customers.
• Understanding the needs of its customers and providing appropriate support, particularly for customers in vulnerable circumstances and during incidents.
• Providing support for customers who are struggling to pay and customers in debt.?

Ofwat and CCW - the independent voice for water consumers in England and Wales - commissioned customer research to ensure that their feedback was included in the development of the new licence condition. The research concluded that customers expect their water company to:

• Get the basics right and resolve issues quickly when they go wrong.
• Take responsibility when there is a problem and make restitution where appropriate.
• Learn lessons from incidents and implement best practice when responding to future incidents, including seeking customer feedback.

We have reviewed the detailed findings of CCW’s research to deepen our understanding of customers’ expectations and inform our approach.? The key findings:

·??????? Participants in the research want their water company to get the basics right and be easy to deal with. They expect a service where they feel heard and are treated like a human being - with politeness and patience.

·??????? They also want their water company to offer a variety of communications channels to cater to for their different preferences, including getting through on the phone quickly if they need to.

·??????? Customers in vulnerable circumstances, including those struggling with their bills, wanted to be treated with sensitivity and respect, to support them in getting back on track with their accounts.

Nutun has invested significant resource in understanding the new licence condition requirements, and is supporting companies through the changes in the following ways:

·??????? Customer Service:? Improving customer service and driving C-MeX improvements. We are supporting companies to deliver C-MeX score improvements through resolving customers’ queries quickly, first time, through whatever channel they choose – by our team of helpful and knowledgeable staff.

???????? Customer Affordability and Collections: The cost of living crisis has markedly increased customers debt within UK water.??In view of the new requirements for vulnerable customers, including those struggling with affordability, we are working with clients to manage their collections processes, whilst also targeting collections in a sensitive way, informed by our debt management experience gained across a range of regulated sectors.?

???????? Efficiencies: Companies are proactively accelerating efficiency programmes.? In response to the PBIT challenges being observed across the sector, we are supporting companies to deliver?an average of 50% OPEX cost efficiencies in contact?centre?and back office processes through outsourcing and providing a seamless, joined-up service with their in-house teams.

???????? Resourcing: Helping companies with reduced Contact Centre resource availability that continues to be observed across the UK.

There is a huge opportunity to outperform in AMP8 through providing the very best service for customers, whilst also addressing rising affordability challenges.? As a trusted sector provider, Nutun is well placed to help companies maximise this opportunity.

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