Supply-chain scores water companies lowest on innovation in annual poll

The supply chain scored water companies lowest on innovation out of a range of areas in British Water’s latest annual survey.

The trade association’s UK Water Company Performance Survey asks contractors, consultants and suppliers to rate their clients’ performance in 11 areas, including professionalism, contractual approach and communication.

Innovation was the lowest scoring area in 2020 – “at a time when regulator Ofwat is expecting water companies to find new ways of working to address key issues, without increasing customer bills,” British Water pointed out.

General manager at EPS Water and incoming chair of British Water’s UK Forum, Shaun Stevens, said: “The low innovation scores are symptomatic of the ongoing frustration felt in the supply chain with regard to innovation uptake by the water companies and their delivery partners.

"While innovation has been a core theme in water companies’ dialogue for many years, issues including under-funding, adversarial commercial models and out-of-date technical standards can be blockers to the adoption of new technologies.”

This year scores slipped across all areas, although British Water said “this is likely to be attributable to the transition from AMP6 to AMP7, when key teams would have been engaged in regulatory submissions, which can directly impact on supply chain engagement and perceptions”.

Northumbrian Water was the best performer in the poll, and Stevens called out Welsh Water and United Utilities for praise.