Consumers want higher standards of water service

The water watchdog has called for standards of service expectations to be updated following research that highlights evolving customer needs.

The Guaranteed Standards Scheme (GSS) is a legal set of standards that all water companies must comply with.

Companies that fall short of the GSS may have to compensate customers. However research by CCW shows low awareness of the GSS and dissatisfaction at the levels of compensation offered.

CCW’s research notes that the scheme has not been revised for 20 years and calls for modernisation to reflect changed consumer expectations of service from their utility provider.

Suggested updates to the GSS include responsibility to help clean up after internal sewer flooding and for drought conditions not to be automatically excluded compensation for supply interruptions.

People said increases in payments for service failures such as supply interruptions or internal sewer flooding to be linked to inflation.

The research indicated that people want standards to include minimum environmental expectations.

CCW’s work also shows people want proactive communication in the event of a supply problem. People said water outages were more impactful than other utilities, especially in the short term.

Reliability of supply was the base expectation of all customers and considered “non-negotiable” by respondents. Beyond that, there are rising expectations that people want respectful customer service, easy access to customer service teams should billpayers need to contact them and for companies to take responsibility for the area they operate in.

This extended to expectations of investing in and adding value to the sector. For water companies, householders expressed expectations to proactively manage leakage, improve infrastructure and respect the environment.

While awareness of the GSS was low, people responded positively when they learnt about the scheme and the breadth of what was included.

CCW suggests people’s perceptions of water companies may rise if more people knew about the standards scheme.

The watchdog is using its findings to help the industry review current standards and compensation payments.