Standard content for Members only
To continue reading this article, please login to your Utility Week account, Start 14 day trial or Become a member.
If your organisation already has a corporate membership and you haven’t activated it simply follow the register link below. Check here.
Thames Water has recruited more than 180 people to improve its customer experience as chief executive Sarah Bentley describes the “substantial journey ahead”.
As well as employing more people the business has begun additional training on the newly installed billing platform.
In the business’ interim results for the six months to 30 September, Bentley said improvements were starting to be seen but the company was not yet where it needs to be.
The company received 19,523 written complaints during the six months, which was almost double the management target of 10,570.
Water watchdog CCW noted the high level of complaints to Thames in its annual complaint handling report, which the company attributed to problems related to the new billing platform.
Thames’ three strategic ambitions are to deliver brilliant customer engagement; to invest in resilient systems and assets; and to generate public value.
It has invested around half a billion pounds in assets this year but the aging infrastructure continues to be challenged by extreme weather. Elsewhere in the report, Bentley affirmed her commitment to the restoration and protection of chalk streams that have been damaged by over-abstraction.
Pollution incidents in the period were 21.62 per 10,000km of sewers, compared to a year end target of 24.51. The company is currently ahead of its leakage target for the year, which puts it in a positive position going into the colder months.
Bentley, who joined the company on 1 September, said she wanted to take a “frontline first approach” and listen to the teams who are directly serving customers. She said it is “really important we keep talking with our customers, stakeholders and investors.”
Please login or Register to leave a comment.