SES Water has published its annual review of operating and financial performance results covering the second year of its Business Plan for 2020 to 2025.

Total revenue has decreased £2.9 million to £63.0 million (2021: £65.8 million). Operating profit is £10.2 million, down from £11.1 million last year. Capital investment in new and replacement plant and equipment totals £27.0 million, up from £26.5 million last year.

Operational performance highlights include:

• continues to achieve upper quartile industry performance for minimising the number of customers contacts about the taste, smell or appearance of their water
• first water company in the UK to roll out intelligent technology across the entire water network and have now met the leakage target every year since they were first set more than 20 years ago, which is industry leading
• laid 8.6 kilometres of new main pipe in the last year and progressed a number of key mains replacement schemes across the supply area. As a result the utility has met its target for the number of mains repairs across the year
• Although some planned interruptions to supply are unavoidable performance this year has been within target to keep interruptions to a minimum. As a result of a resilient water network the company has also kept unplanned outages below the target limit
• The launch of a new billing system - the first company in the UK to use it. The innovation is the biggest change made to this key area of the business in more than 20 years and is one of several ways SES Water is working to improve customer service
• added to the fleet of electric vehicles, with each electric car helping to save 2-3 tonnes of CO2e per year, as well as reducing the impact on local air quality

As well as delivering strong operational performance in many areas, the company said that this year has continued to go beyond providing its essential public service and played an active part in the local communities it serves, including:

• 19,994 customers are benefitting from the Company’s Water Support Scheme, which provides a 50 per cent bill reduction to eligible people. This means SES Water are already surpassing the target set for year three of this five-year Business Plan period
• Surpassed this year’s target of 80 per cent for vulnerable support scheme helpfulness, with 84 per cent of people surveyed saying the extra services offered are helpful
• Welcoming more than 2,500 people to the state-of-the-art education centre at Bough Beech Treatment Works in the past year, continuing to inspire future generations
• Visit 140 vulnerable customers a week, to ensure the members of the community who need it most benefit from support, including contact over telephone and attending local food banks

Chief Executive Officer, Ian Cain, said:

“It’s undoubtedly been another challenging year for everyone, stemming from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the rising cost of living. However, I’m immensely proud of what we, as a Company, have achieved in the last 12 months. We have continued throughout to focus on three core areas: protecting and supporting our colleagues, meeting the needs and wishes of our customers and taking care of the communities we serve, including the environment.

“Most notably we became the first water company to roll out intelligent technology across our entire network, helping us to locate and repair leaks in near real time. This has helped us outperform our target for reducing leaks on our network of pipes, which once again is industry leading. We have also minimised the number of supply interruptions and occasions when customers’ water supplies have been interrupted.

“Meanwhile, we have continued to provide financial support to customers through our ‘Here For You’ payment support schemes to make sure we are there for them when they need us the most.

“However, there are areas where we know we can improve. We fully recognise we need to make improvements to our customer service, both for households and developers, as measured under the UK water industry performance tables for 2021/22, and we are working hard to do so. This includes improved complaints handling, listening to and acting on customer feedback and reducing bill shock.

“The Board and I are absolutely confident the Company’s financial standing remains strong and we have taken positive steps to further improve the strength of our finances, particularly in light of the pandemic, and continued to invest in areas that matter most to our customers. This includes launching a new digital billing system – the largest technology investment in our history.”

SES Water supplies water to over 745,000 people in east Surrey, and parts of West Sussex, west Kent and south London across a supply area of 322 square miles (835 sq km) extending from Morden and South Croydon in the north to Gatwick Airport in the south and from Cobham, Leatherhead and Dorking in the west to Edenbridge and Bough Beech in the east.

Groundwater supplies provide 85 per cent of the company's water, with 15 per cent being extracted from one reservoir at Bough Beech near Edenbridge.

Click here to down the SES Water Annual Report 2021-22