In March our Chair and Sydney Water Managing Director Roch Cheroux, Executive Director Adam Lovell, and Eve Rodrigues, Manager Customer and Community and Diane Nolder, Project Director Benchmarking were delighted to spend an afternoon with Louise Beardmore, CEO of United Utilities, UK.
WSAA Chair and Sydney Water Managing Director Roch Cheroux, CEO of United Utilities Louise Beardmore and WSAA Executive Director Adam Lovell
United Utilities provides water and wastewater services to about 7 million customers in the North West of England, servicing areas including Manchester and Liverpool.
In a broad ranging discussion with Roch, perspectives on the challenges of climate change, net zero, overflow management and the circular economy were discussed together with the very strong customer centricity themes shared between both UK and Australian utilities.
Louise provided a number of interesting insights on debt management strategies and the benefit of sharing debt status with other essential services providers. We had a great discussion about ‘fallen angels’, customers who have been paying on time and then find themselves in difficulty. They find that credit sharing is incredibly effective, driving both payment (for those that can afford to) or engagement for those who need support. They have a number of bespoke affordability packages to suit their low income and struggling population.
Fraud was also discussed and like many utilities around the globe, fraud is of increasing concern. United Utilities has recently implemented new processes and training for staff to ensure access to information – like the last amount paid on a bill – is not shared with any unwanted parties and then used for identity theft.
WSAA shared an overview of some of our key projects including our benchmarking work, which has been completed by a number of UK water utilities in the last round in 2022.
The common challenges and opportunities are many and very much look forward to continued collaboration with Louise and the United Utilities team into the future.
8 Apr 2024
