Shareholder funds enable SES Water to double customers receiving bill relief

SES Water reported on the day CC Water released its affordability report [LINK] that shareholder funding had enabled it to help double the number of customers than targeted under 2015-20 business plan.

Nearly 10,000 customers are on SES’s Water Support Scheme; it pledged to help 5,000 in the period at PR14.

Dan Lamb, head of retail services, said: “Most of our customers do not struggle to pay their bill but we recognise that for some people it can be a challenge which is why we set out to significantly increase the number of eligible people on our Water Support Scheme. As the scheme is funded through a £2 supplement from other customers, this does mean that there has been a gap in funding which we have bridged with money from our shareholders which is set to increase as we aim to have over 11,000 customers on the tariff by next year.”

In its PR19 business plan, SES Water has pledged to get 19,000 customers on the scheme. It said this will help it maintain its “industry-leading position on bad debt, currently at only 0.6% of annual revenue”. The company also said it would work with neighbouring water companies to standardise the eligibility criteria and introduce a target to increase awareness of its support services.