Periodic Review of
Water Price Limits 2004
(PR04)
Customer Consultation
Introduction
DWI is a contributor to the joint water industry research into customers’ views on water and sewerage services in England and Wales. The other main contributors are: Defra, Welsh Assembly Government, Ofwat, Consumer Council for Water (formerly WaterVoice), WaterUK, Environment Agency, English Nature and Wildlife & Countryside Link. The report of the initial research work was published in November 2002, and the report on the further work was published in December 2003
2002 Report
This stage of the research work was wide ranging, and among its main findings was a desire by customers for improvements in the following five areas:
- Maintaining the quality of coastal and bathing waters,
- Maintaining the quality of river waters,
- Protecting important areas of wildlife and plants,
- Avoiding the risk of homes and gardens being flooded with sewage, and
- Improving tap water taste and smell.
On drinking water quality issues DWI notes:
- The high satisfaction level with drinking water quality;
- Customers’ support for further improvements in drinking water taste and smell; and
- The willingness of customers to pay more for improving the reliability of supply, tap water safety and infrastructure maintenance.
2003 Report
The second stage explored customers’ views on the need for particular local improvements to the service they receive and the impact this would have on their bills.
The overall conclusions were that:
The majority of customers were satisfied with their water and sewerage services, and felt
that they offered good value for money in most areas. Customers confirmed that it was
important to maintain current levels of service, rather than allow reduced levels. The
majority also thought it was important to improve all service areas. When looking at
specific costed plans, most support was given to drinking water quality and supply
aspects, followed by maintaining water and sewerage systems, resolving sewer flooding
problems and managing the pressure of water at the tap. Less support was given to
environmental and customer service aspects, although support for these was still strong in
many areas and nationally all service aspects got at least 49% support across all plans
(although there were some significant variations among the companies). Most customers
wanted to see at least some of the areas of work put forward. Nationally 41-46% of
customers said they were "probably willing" and 14% that they were
"definitely willing" to pay for the proposals in the three plans. 19-22% were
"probably not willing", and 14% "definitely not willing" to pay, with
one in ten customers overall stating that they could not afford it. At a national level
more customers felt the companies' preferred plans and reference plan A offered good than
poor value for money. However, the current service was generally felt to offer better
value than any of the plans. Customers showed a strong preference for gradual rather than
sudden, unexpected bill changes.
Further information on Consumer Consultation for PR04:
2002 Report
- Question & Answer Paper: research into customers’ views.
- The 2004 Periodic Review: Research into Customer's views - Executive Summary
- The 2004 Periodic Review: Research into Customer's views - Report in Full
2003 Report
