Wessex Water's approach of partnership working and engaging with the communities it serves has gone from strength to strength during the last year, providing better outcomes for customers and the environment.
Commenting on its annual results for 2018-19, Managing Director Andy Pymer said it had worked hard to deliver the best levels of service and continuously challenge itself to find better and cheaper ways of doing things. The results show operating profit fell £12.6m to £110m, turnover increased by £7m to £548m and operational costs increased by £8m to £213m.
Through the Wessex Water Marketplace initiative, the company is opening up company data, challenges and systems so that customers, stakeholders and suppliers can be part of the solution to future challenges.
During the past year more than £106m has been invested in environmental improvements, making greater use of catchment-based approaches to understand and manage nutrients in the environment.
This has involved partnering with farmers to offset nitrogen contributions as well as continuing to support catchment partnerships across the region, involving dozens of projects and partners and hundreds of farmers and landowners.
According to Wessex Water, the resilience of its services is closely tied to the resilience of the wider water catchments in which it operates. The firm said it uses catchment-based strategies to deal with the source of the problems not the symptoms - an approach which avoids costly treatment plants.
During the year Wessex increased its catchment-based work, including through its associated company EnTrade. The water company is currently working with farmers at 20 sites to reduce nitrate levels in groundwater sources or to remove pesticide risks from reservoirs.
Andy Pymer continued:
“Our region contains a wealth of rivers, streams, beaches and natural landscapes and is rich in wildlife with many areas protected by national and international designations. We work hard to protect and enhance the aquatic environment and our wider natural habitats.
“Our aim is to give all customers excellent standards of service by providing high quality water and environmental services that protect health, improve the environment and give customers good value for money.”
Investing at record levels
One of the major projects started in the last year is the second stage of the north Bristol sewer scheme – a significant engineering scheme that will accommodate economic development and housing growth by transporting waste water for treatment at the water recycling centre in Bristol.
The company has continued to invest at record levels, with more than £245m injected into maintaining and improving assets and the services that they underpin.
During 2018-19 Wessex Water remained one of the top water and sewerage companies in Ofwat’s service incentive mechanism, which measures customers’ service performance. It also had the lowest number of complaints as reported by the Consumer Council for Water.
The company has continued to deliver initiatives to support customers in vulnerable circumstances, with a 15% increase in the number of low-income customers receiving support with their bills or debt and a 15% increase in the number registered for Priority Services.
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