Wessex Water’s profits rose to £86.1m according to its half year results, with the company continuing to be recognised as the leading water and sewerage provider for customer service and on track for another year of excellent performance.
Financial results for the six months to September 2016 showed an increase in turnover of 1.8% or £4.6m from £262.2m to £266.8m, while profit after tax increased by £2.0m from £84.1m to £86.1m.
Total turnover increased by £4.6m from £262.2m to £266.8m. Regulated tariff turnover rose by £5.0m of which £4.9m was due to a 0.8% price rise allowed by Ofwat, increased by November RPI of 1.1%.
Gross capital investment for the six months was £93.3m, an increase over £87.4m last year as the capital expenditure programme increases in the second year of the AMP6 regulatory period.
Operational costs (excluding depreciation) increased by £4.3m from £91.6m to £95.9m, with upward pressures on costs due to inflation, new obligations, retail costs, repairs and EA charges. Wessex said the savings that partially offset the increases came from the control of chemical usage, energy consumption initiatives and reduced private sewer cost
The company has once again topped league tables for customer satisfaction - a number of initiatives are being rolled out that will further improve the customer experience. Wider use of proactive text messaging and other digital communication channels have kept customers even better informed and helped to meet customers' growing expectations.
Digital contact - constantly improving the customer experience
Managing director Andy Pymer said:
"Our range of digital contact channels, such as Live Chat, texting and online self-service, are increasing in popularity and we are constantly improving the customer experience in this area.”
"Importantly, we receive instant feedback from customers who use these communication channels which allows us to continuously evolve our services based on what customers want.”
"Wessex Water remains committed to ensuring bills are affordable for all and has introduced a new scheme this year to help low income pensioners who can sometimes suffer in silence. From 1 April 2016, customers in receipt of pension credit have been eligible to a discount of around 20% off their bills to ease their household budgets.”
Good progress against performance commitments
Commenting on its operational performance, the water company said it is making good progress against its performance commitments and the overall outcomes set out in its business plan, with reductions seen in the number of customer contacts about water quality, the average minutes lost per property due to supply interruptions, pollution numbers and internal sewage flooding incidents.
Investment in bathing water quality has focused on improving the quality of Burnham Jetty bathing water in Somerset. One of a number of major projects in Bridgwater was completed six months early and other schemes have now moved into construction, including significant storage tanks at Bristol Road, Bridgwater and Sloway Lane near Highbridge.
Wessex Water’s grid project is progressing to programme - in addition to delivering reductions in abstraction as agreed with the Environment Agency, the new grid will connect the firm’s water resources zones, enabling it to move water more effectively around the region, ensure it can meet future demand and improve the resilience of supplies to customers.
The water company is conitinug to make progress in reducing its carbon footprint - greenhouse gas emissions fell to 59kt CO2e compared to 68kt CO2e for the same perod last year, while the proportion of self-generated energy rose from 25% to 29%.
Competition ready
Ahead of the introduction of competition for business customers next year, Wessex Water has developed the systems and processes required to allow non-household customers to choose their water and sewerage services retailer from April 2017. Andy Pymer said:
"This is a big change and one that we have spent time communicating to our business customers to raise awareness about competition.During the six-month shadow operation period before the market opens, staff have been getting to grips with new internal procedures we have in place that will ensure business customers continue to receive the very best service as we operate as a wholesaler."
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