Welsh, Northumbrian and Severn lead on Net Promoter Score, Water Matters finds

CCW reported a huge spread in customer likelihood to recommend their water company in its latest Water Matters review, published last week.

Welsh Water clocked up the highest Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 49, followed by Northumbrian (41) and Severn Trent (40). Hartlepool (38) had the highest score among the water only companies, closely followed by South Staffs (37) and Portsmouth (38).

Southern Water was at the bottom of the table with a score of -6, closely followed by Thames and South East with -4 each. The industry NPS was 23.

Elsewhere in the report, which tracks household customers’ views and preferences on the services and support that they receive from the water companies, CCW found satisfaction with water services remained high despite the challenges water companies have faced during Covid-19 restrictions. 92% of customers said they were satisfied with their water service and 85% with their sewerage service. Satisfaction with value for money stood at 76% for water and 78% for sewerage.

However, CCW also found evidence of Covid-19 hitting household budgets. Just over one in four households across England and Wales felt their finances had changed for the worse during the last year and those who were already struggling to afford their water bills faced even greater hardship. The watchdog pointed out that the unemployed or those working in hospitality and call centres, people under 30 and those from an Asian or mixed ethnicity background were among those that felt their finances had got worse during 2020.

While water companies have made efforts to boost support for households struggling to pay their bills during Covid-19, CCW said this is still not reaching many of those that need it most. The watchdog has challenged the water industry to work with it to overcome cultural, language and other barriers to support.

CCW also wants the industry to carry out a ‘lessons learned’ exercise on the impact of Covid-19 within six months of lockdown being completely eased. Examples of best practice could then be identified and shared with other companies.

More than 5,400 household customers across England and Wales were interviewed for this year’s report between September 2020 and March 2021. The report provides a snapshot of customers’ experiences against the backdrop of Covid-19 restrictions and their wider impact.