Customers

Customer service standards for retailers tightened

Thames: No dividends coming this decade

Shareholders in Thames Water are unlikely to see a dividend payment before 2030, interim co-chief executive Cathryn Ross has said. The former Ofwat boss also bemoaned a “backwards looking and risk averse” regulatory regime and a lack of co-ordination between the various bodies overseeing the sector.

PR24: SVT’s past performance key to AMP8

Severn Trent has set out its intention to remain an industry leader across performance commitments in the next asset management period (AMP8) as the cornerstone to its ambitious plan.

Switching remained buoyant in September

Ofwat sets out details of customer service licence condition

PR24: South East facing ‘unprecedented’ network pressure

PR24: South West to investigate peak charging

Market Stabilisation Charge will expire in 2024

Ofgem proposes bill hikes to cover record supplier debt

Yorkshire embarks on £10m wastewater upgrade

Yorkshire Water has begun £10 million upgrades to a wastewater treatment site in Dronfield to remove phosphorus from treated effluent and improve water quality in the river Drone. The project is part of a wider investment of £500 million to reduce excess nutrients entering waterways across Yorkshire's region.

Managing regulatory risk in B2B energy

PR24: CCW calls for bigger water efficiency fund

Ovo completes SSE migration four years after takeover

PR24: Welsh Water customers support bills hike

Welsh Water has strong customer support for its ambitious business plan, despite almost half of customers admitting the proposed bills will be difficult to pay. The company has set out plans to improve services and performance for the years to 2030 and will ask customers to pay an extra 26%.

PR24: United Utilities pledges third of total CSO spend

The new trilemma posed by PR24

Outfox CEO: Customer ban allowed us to improve services

Thames: Our assets need £20bn upgrade

The cost of upgrading and future-proofing Thames Water’s ageing assets would be almost £20 billion, the company has revealed. To tackle the most pressing issues, Thames has proposed spending £4.7 billion on its assets in the five years to 2030. The figures are revealed within Thames’ PR24 business plan which it made public on 5 October, three days later than Ofwat’s submission deadline.

Water-only complaints jump 66% after extreme weather

The number of complaints about water-only companies rose 66% year-on-year following supply interruptions during extreme weather. Although billing disputes dominated the causes of grievances, water watchdog CCW said environmental factors such as the hot, dry summer and freeze-thaw in 2022 triggered an influx of customer complaints when water supplies were affected. South East was named as the most complained about water-only company with disputes related to the freeze thaw, and how subsequent compensation claims were dealt, leading to a surge in customer contacts. 

PR24: SES to ‘fall short’ on net zero