Southern Water has published an update outlining progress the company has made against customer and environmental goals six months into its Turnaround Plan, which was launched by the business in May 2023.
Progress against customer and environmental goals six months into the plan includes:
- upgraded treatment centres and pumping stations
- improved and enhanced monitors and leak prevention initiatives
- investment in customer service offering
- significant strides in health and safety practices.
Commenting on the update, Southern Water said the Plan is underpinned by a record £3 billion investment between 2020 and 2025 and that the company has the full support of its majority shareholder, Macquarie Asset Management, which has invested over £1.5 billion to date. Macquarie has not taken a dividend since 2017.
The water company said it is seeing positive early results of its efforts across the following priority areas:
Providing a reliable supply of high-quality water to customers The firm has doubled the volume of water treated at 20 sites and begun delivery of a £150 million investment to support upgrades at its Otterbourne and Burham water supply works. It has also installed over 7,500 acoustic loggers on our networks – so we can better locate leaks by monitoring characteristic noise waves – and implemented efficiencies to prioritise the most impactful repairs. Water saving initiatives have resulted in a saving of over 1.5 megalitres daily and the company has begun developing a smart metering programme which will allow customers to track their water use in real time.
Improving the health of rivers and seas. Southern Water is halfway through upgrades to pumping stations having completed work at 52 of stations to improve resilience. The sewer cleaning programme is on track, the firm has installed 23,000 sewer monitors, and is 85% towards its goal of using tools to predict blockages and reducing flooding incidents. By the end of this year, Southern will have 100% coverage of Event Duration Monitors operational across its outfalls. Overall, the Turnaround Plan will see the utility reduce pollutions by 79%. Earlier this month it published a £1.5 billion Clean Rivers and Seas Plan which sets out how Southern will tackle the remaining storm overflows that need attention in the region.
Providing a trusted and easy customer service. Complaints are now 29% lower than they were in the first quarter of 2023. A new website will launch in the new year making it much more user friendly. Video triage for booking of appointments is now in place, and support has been ramped up for vulnerable customers. The company is also investing in training to upskill employees so that they are better informed to handle customer inquiries.
Strengthened approach to health and safety. A focus on improving internal health and safety processes has delivered a threefold increase in the number of hazards now reported (c.900), with new risk software allowing teams to better capture evidence out in the field. A new Health and Safety Policy has been issued, which has resulted in a renewed focus on health and safety, with lost time incidents reducing by 20% over the past year.
Lawrence Gosden, Southern Water’s CEO, said:
“We launched our Turnaround Plan in May with the focus on delivering against four clear outcomes. I’m pleased to say we’re making significant progress on improving our service to customers and our environmental performance.
The next six-month update on the Plan will be published in May 2024.
"Alongside operational improvements, we’ve improved transparency and embedded a new culture centred around a Code of Ethics which is now driving our day-to-day decision-making. We know our Plan is ambitious and we still have much to do, but we promise to keep building and delivering with this momentum to achieve our targets. We will provide a further update in May 2024 to keep all our stakeholders updated.”
The next six-month update on the Plan will be published in May 2024.
Click here to read the Turnaround Plan November 2023 update