North west water firm United Utilities, of the hit TV series Watermen, is a world leader in corporate responsibility, according to global experts.

Highlights of its sustainability credentials over the last year were released in the company’s Corporate Responsibility Report this week. According to the report, sustainability was a key element of the tender process to select United Utilities’ delivery partners for the AMP6 investment programme to 2020.

The FTSE100 business, which appeared in BBCTwo’s six-part documentary Watermen: A Dirty Business earlier this year, earned world class ranking in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the seventh year running.

The documentary featured front line and call centre employees, with each programme watched by an average 2.4m viewers and offered insight into what goes on behind the scenes in running a water company.

The report highlights a number of aspects of its performance in 2013/14 which the water company is particularly proud of.

United Utilities’ service to customers has continued to improve and the firm is now 7th in the regulator’s comparison of water company performance, up from 21^st three years ago. It also retained 'world class’ status in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the seventh consecutive year and for the first time became industry leaders and  maintained its ‘Platinum Big Tick’ status in Business in the Community’s Corporate Responsibility Index.

Elsewhere, United Utilities’ wastewater pollution performance showed reductions in category 2 and 3 incidents and no category 1 incidents – which are the most serious. Last year the company also generated more renewable energy than ever before, providing it  with 17% of total energy needs.

In preparation for water competition coming to England in 2017, with non-domestic customers able to choose their provider, the water company launched United Utilities Scotland to compete north of the border, where competition is already in place. The new venture has already become the second largest supplier in Scotland securing 5% of the market in 12 months.

Customer initiatives highlighted in the report include:

Making it easier to get in touch: UU has expanded and improved its range of customer channels, by, for example, improving its email service, and changing phone numbers to a mix of 0800 and 0345 numbers, providing more cost effective calls from mobiles and landlines. More than 350,000 customers are now registered for its My Account service, which enables customers to manage their water account online.

Gathering feedback: UU has introduced a new customer feedback service called Rant n’ Rave, which lets people provide instant opinions about our service via text message – positive or negative – so that it can respond quickly.

Expanding financial support: with a significant number of customers continuing to feel financial pressures, UU has  expanded itsrange of financial support services, including  placing an additional £2 million into the United Utilities Trust Fund, swelling its total for the year to £7million, to support those in severe financial hardship.

Environment: United Utilities has  committed to reducing its carbon emissions by 21% by 2015, by designing out waste from operations, and generating its own energy. Key achievements in 2013/14 included:

• More renewable electricity generated than ever before -133GWh, or 17% of total electricity consumption. United Utilities’ new advanced sludge digestion facility at Davyhulme Wastewater Treatment Works in Manchester was pivotal to these outputs. The project won the Institution of Chemical Engineers Energy Award last year.
• Putting waste to work: the firm managed to divert 90% of excavated material from landfill and reused 172,000 tonnes of waste for backfill or landscaping on its sites.
• Abstraction: in 2013/14, the water company continued to reduce abstraction in sensitive aquatic environments, or to cease abstraction entirely. United Utilities revoked 22 of its abstraction licences for unused sources.
• Leakage: United Utilities maintained an extensive programme of leakage control actions and outperformed the Ofwat leakage target by 11.3 megalitres a day or Ml/d (2.4%) for 2013/14 -  the eighth consecutive year it has met or exceeded the target.

Sustainability key to AMP6 partner contracts

On working with contractors, United Utilities recently appointed four construction partners and an engineering service provider to help deliver the AMP6 investment programme to 2020, and possibly beyond. Sustainability was a key element of the tender process – the new partners have been challenged to divert at least 95% of waste from landfill, through innovative design solutions and by entering into partnerships with specialist third party recycling contractors.

The report highlights the fact that United Utilities works very closely with its supply chain, in a spirit of partnership. Key commitments and activities in 2013/14 included the firm’s supply chain charter. Treating the supply chain fairly and ethically, through prompt payments and adequate guidance and support, is something United Utilities  is fully committed to. In turn, the firm expects suppliers to uphold high environmental and ethical standards – the tenets of which are described in a supply chain charter. More than three quarters of United Utilities’  total spend in 2013/14 was with suppliers who have signed up to the charter.

"Committed to striking right balance between an attractive rate of return for shareholders and investing in service improvements" 

Commenting on its investment decisions, United Utilities said:

“We have an annual procurement budget of more than £1 billion, over 5,000 regional, national and international suppliers and more than 100,000 shareholders around the world. As such, there is a lot riding on the investment decisions we make.”

“We are committed to striking the right balance between an attractive rate of return for shareholders, and investing in the service improvements that our customers want to see.”

On finance, the report says United Utilities is “heavily reliant” on successfully acquiring long-term funding from banks and debt capital markets to fund network improvements.

The European Investment Bank, which is the financing arm of the European Union, is its single biggest lender, currently providing circa £1.5 billion of term funding used to support its capital investment programme. The funding goes towards projects such as the flagship thermal hydrolysis plant at Davyhulme wastewater treatment works in Manchester.

Commenting on the report, United Utilities’ Head of Sustainability Chris Matthews said:

“Serving seven million people and supporting nine thousand jobs gives us a big role to play in many people’s lives in the North West and we want to make sure it’s a positive one. That’s one of the reasons we opened our doors to the Watermen. Our staff are some of our best ambassadors.”

“The DJSI is one of the most respected global sustainability benchmarks and is one of the tools we use to make sure we’re on track. This year we got our best ever score of 84 per cent, which puts us at the top of the multi-utility sector. But there’s still room for improvement and we’ll need to get better and better to maintain top spot.”

Click here to download the Corporate Responsibility Full Report 2014