Portsmouth Water has been named as a leading water company in England and Wales by Ofwat, the water sector regulator, in its annual Water Company Performance Report.

The report measures water company performance on a number of criteria including customer satisfaction, reducing leakage, supply interruptions and drinking water quality, then categorises the companies’ overall performance into three groups: leading, average and lagging behind. Portsmouth Water is the only water company to achieve leading status.

Portsmouth Water led the sector in supply interruptions. However, it was also recognised in the report that the company did not reach its regulatory targets for improving leakage and reducing per capita consumption (that is customers’ average water use per person).

Bob Taylor, CEO of Portsmouth Water, said:

“We’re pleased to be recognised as a leading company in the sector. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of our team that are passionate about providing high quality drinking water and excellent customer service.

“However, we recognise we have more to do and need to improve our performance in some key areas. Our customers use more water than most of the country, therefore over the next five years we’re investing £63 million in smart water meters and water efficiency initiatives. We’ve now installed our first 1,000 smart water meters in our pilot programme, helping 333 customers to find leaks in their homes and saving 52,000 litres of water. We’ll now roll these out to 170,000 customers over the next five years.

“We’re also investing £10 million to reduce leaks by 15% by 2030, saving 3 million litres of water per day. We’re using innovative techniques and technology to improve our performance in this area including satellite technology and specially trained dogs that can detect leaks.

“We recognise that us reducing leaks is a number one priority for our customers, and that our customers rightly expect us to meet all of the required performance standards. We’re committed to doing this and will be delivering our largest ever investment programme over the next five years to do so.”

Portsmouth Water has committed £377 million investment over the next five years to safeguard water supplies, enhance the environment and keep bills affordable.