Ofwat: Customer service still has a long way to go

As many people continue to face considerable cost of living pressures and utility price increases, all customers rightly expect value for money. Lynn Parker, senior director for casework, customers and enforcement, at Ofwat writes for Utility Week on the importance of excellent customer service for all.

We are clear that water companies must provide excellent customer service to all customers, and in particular those who may be vulnerable, for whatever reason.

Where they are falling short, we expect them to improve the service they offer their customers. This means making services accessible and ensuring that any necessary service adaptations are of high quality.

Businesses are often judged by how they respond to and serve their customers when something goes wrong and, importantly how they support those who are most vulnerable and who need extra help.

We’ve seen water companies making some good progress in this area. The number of customers on priority services registers (PSRs) has increased considerably in recent years and water companies have made positive strides in establishing PSR data sharing arrangements with the energy industry.

However, there is still a way to go. We continue to see concerning examples of poor customer service in some operational areas, including during incidents.

We have worked jointly with the CCW to undertake qualitative research on this which has also outlined some serious failings, including how companies communicate with their customers when issues such as supply disruptions, odour complaints or discolouration of water arise.

Our new guidance will help to address these shortcomings by setting out clear minimum standards for water companies to ensure that customers who are feeling vulnerable for whatever reason at that point in time, including those who, are elderly, have a disability or mental health problems receive the extra help and support that they need.

The guidance will require companies not only to identify which of their customers need extra help, but to design and implement systems to meet the needs of their diverse customer base.

Services and communications should be designed in an accessible and inclusive way that does not harm customers who have undeclared extra help needs.

This follows a consultation period during which we received more than 30 responses from organisations including Scope, Age UK and Mencap, the vast majority of which agreed that our proposals would have a positive impact for customers.

Our new guidance sets out our expectations across five key objectives: high standards of service and support; inclusive by design; identifying customers; recording needs; and vulnerability strategies.

The first of these objectives is obvious. If companies know that a customer needs extra help, then the help should be provided, and it should be high quality. Customers should also be kept informed about what help they can expect to receive – especially during incidents – so they can plan accordingly.

Secondly, companies should design their services to be inclusive from the very start. This will help customers with communication as well as accessibility needs.

Next, companies need to get on the front foot when it comes to identifying customers’ needs. We want to see continued good progress in growing priority services registers, and companies should be training staff to spot potential extra help needs when they engage with customers.

This goes hand-in-hand with the recording of vulnerability. If companies have good records of extra help needs in their area, then they can improve the support they provide, including through data sharing where appropriate.

Finally, we want companies to be putting in place clear plans to deliver all these expectations. That’s why we’re asking every company to develop a vulnerability strategy and share it with us by June 2024. These strategies should build on robust analysis of the underlying needs in each company’s area.

This new guidance is the next step we are putting in place to improve outcomes, protect customers, and ensure companies are held to account.

We hope all companies will rise to the challenge, and we will be watching closely to ensure that the sector continues to make progress in this area.

We also plan to introduce a new customer-focused licence condition early next year, to encourage high standards of customer service and support for the full diversity of customer needs.

We will take companies’ consideration of the vulnerability guidance into account when assessing compliance with the new licence condition.